Cult of the Cyber Messiah
by cheri1
Summary: Human Doctor/Rose, 10/OC, Max Headroom crossover. Fifth in a series of stories. The Doctor and his family land in 2360 searching for the first missing Time Lord. But they soon help in the investigation of a mysterious cult leader. FINISHED.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is the fifth story in a series. The other stories in order are Something Old, Something New, The Soldier and The Scientist, Terror of the Crystal Caves and My Son, My Enemy. This story is a crossover with the old Max Headroom show that ran in America from 1985-1987. The whole series is set in the future which is why I decided to use it as a setting for the year 2360. And actually Edison and Max are a lot like the Doctor and Alan. Edison is more serious and Max is his wacky, hyper counterpart. I also realize that not many readers are old enough to remember the show so I will provide background info throughout the story on the Max Headroom universe.

Chapter One

"This is Edison Carter coming to you live and direct on Network 23. What I want to know is, what is the Church of the Cyber Resurrection and why have some of its members been found in random locations with their memories completely wiped? Who is this Cyber Messiah and what is the secret behind his cyber cult? These are the questions I hope to answer tonight. A source has located a possible lead on the location of the Church of the Cyber Resurrection and you are with me live while I check it out. Okay Theora, I'm going in."

"Okay, Edison," Theora said while she sat at her computer and watched the footage from his portable news camera.

She glanced at another computer next to her which had a layout of the building he was in.

"Go right about five feet and you'll see a flight of stairs," she said to him. "Go up it."

"Gotcha, control. Heading upstairs now."

Theora stared at the footage from the camera watching the steps while he ascended to the second level. While she stared, she felt someone behind her and looked around at Murray, the newsroom's editor.

"You really think he's gonna find this so called cyber church?" he asked Theora.

"Dunno, that's why he's going in," Theora replied.

"Yeah and if he finds nothing, he'll end up with egg on his face, our ratings will take a severe nosedive and we'll find ourselves at the bottom of the heap next to Home Shoppingvision. Where did you find this "source" anyway?"

"Reg knew him. He's a blank like he is and apparently he had a friend that managed to get out after he saw what this Cyber Messiah was doing to everyone and told the friend where the location was. The friend passed it on to Reg and Reg passed it on to Edison."

"And does this "friend" have a name?"

Theora shrugged.

"Reg just said he was a friend," she said.

"So we don't know if he's reliable. We're basically trusting a blank, a person who is dishonest to begin with since they purged their identities from all known computer files. This is the man who Edison is trusting, a man who has no identity just like the Cyber Messiah. You better not let Cheviot know about that or he'll have a stroke."

"Okay, control," they heard Edison say. "I'm on the second floor now. Where do I go?"

Theora moved her cursor to the map, clicked on it and brought up the second floor. She studied it.

"You can go right and there are two rooms or go left and there's one," she said to Edison.

"Okay, I'll start with the right then," Edison replied.

They watched his video footage while he walked towards a closed metal door. He tried the handle and the door opened a crack.

"I'm goin' in," he said to Theora.

"Be careful, Edison. There could be anything in there," Theora said.

He hesitated a moment and then quickly opened the door. Edison looked around but there was nothing inside.

"Or there could be nothing at all," he quipped. "I'll try the next door."

"I just hope to God his source was right about this," Murray muttered.

Edison went to the next door, tried it and found it was locked. He stepped back, paused a moment and then slammed his foot into it. There was a sickening crack and the door swung open. They stared at the screen in shock when they saw someone sitting on the other side of the room in the far corner. She was a young blonde woman who looked to be in her mid teens, wearing a white scrub top and pants with a blank faraway look in her eyes. Edison hurried to her and knelt down beside her.

"Are you alright?" he said to her. "Are you okay?"

He waved his hand in front of her face but got no response.

"Damn it, control, I think we have another cult member who had her brain drained," he said to Theora. "Get a medic here."

"On it," Theora replied.

Murray continued to watch the footage while Theora closed the map and switched to the video phone. It rang for a few minutes before she got a picture and then she saw a stern looking woman wearing her white hair back in a bun and wire-rimmed spectacles on her face.

"Yes?" the woman said.

"Yes, we need an ambulance to go to section 17-B, floor 2," Theora said.

"What is the emergency?"

Theora struggled for something to say.

"Woman is…comatose," she finally said. "A friend of mine found her and she's unresponsive."

"We'll send an ambulance out as soon as we can," the woman said.

Theora ignored the annoyed tone in her voice.

"Thank you," she said.

She ended the call and looked back at the footage. By now, Edison was across the hall checking out the other room but the only thing in it was some wires hanging out of a hole in the ceiling.

"Any other floors, control?" Edison said.

Theora brought the map back up.

"No, that's it."

"Damn. We didn't find them then," Edison said.

Murray groaned.

"Now I have to explain it to Cheviot. I just hope our ratings don't plummet or he'll have my head on a silver platter."

He started to walk off and then turned.

"And next time Edison latches onto a big story like this, make sure his sources are airtight. Could you tell him that when he gets back since I'll be down talking to the board members for the next couple of hours?"

Theora nodded. Murray groaned and ran his hand over the top of his balding head.

"Why couldn't Edison be interested in doing the sports report or the fashion review instead of being an investigative journalist?" he muttered as he walked off. "I think the main reason I'm going bald is because of him."

Theora shook her head and closed the map again. She took a sip of coffee watching while Edison hurried back to the helicopter that would bring him back to the building.

"Well, better luck next time, control," Edison said, turning the camera so it was on his face.

"Well, if you do, make bloody sure that you get a reliable source before you waste the network's time, that's Murray's words, more or less," Theora replied.

"And where am I supposed to get that seeing as how no one really knows the Cyber Messiah's real name?" he said to her.

"I'm just telling you what Murray said before he went down to smooth things out with Cheviot and the board members," she replied.

"Well, whoever this Messiah is, he's covered his tracks well. All the cult members we've found had their memories completely drained. They can't remember their own name, let alone tell us who he is or the location of the church."

"Well in the meantime, I'd find something else to report on before they find a way to keep you off the story," she said.

"Aw, come on, Theora, you know me. Once I sink my teeth into a juicy story, I can't let go! I'm like a dog with a bone."

"I know and I think that's why Murray has ulcers now. Anyway, I'll see you when you get back."

"Can I…take you out to dinner tonight, control?" he said, giving her his most winning smile.

Theora couldn't help but smile in return.

"You aren't gonna stop asking that, are you?"

"No, not till you say yes."

"Oh, alright, I give in. Yes, you can."

Her heart leapt when he saw the boyish grin on his face.

"That's a date, control, and believe me, I'm holding you to it," he said.

Theora rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Ooooo."

She jerked her head to the other computer and saw Edison's computer generated double Max Headroom giving her a sly grin.

"I h-h-h-heard that," he said.

Theora shrugged.

"So?"

"You're going on a d-d-d-date with Edison."

"I repeat, so?"

The sly grin widened.

"You like like him."

"Yeah, as a friend."

"Hmm, hmm, I think I know b-b-b-better."

Theora sighed.

"Max, I'm not in the mood, alright?" she said. "I don't care what you think. My relationship with Edison is strictly professional."

She deliberately turned away from him and sipped her coffee.

"He's fantasized about you, you know."

Theora looked back at Max who was giving her an evil grin.

"Yes," he said airily, "I have certain m-m-memories that are ex-extremely fascinating. Would you like to know what Edison thought of you b-b-before I was b-b-born?"

"No thanks, Max."

"Well, if you ever want to kn-kn-kn-know, I'm right here. Just c-c-call for me."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that," Theora muttered.

She breathed a sigh of relief when Edison came through the double doors and walked over towards her.

"Edison, can you talk to your double and get him under control, please?"

"Why? What's he doing now?" Edison said, coming up beside her.

He looked at the screen and saw Max smiling at him with a little computer generated halo over his head.

"I'm b-b-being good as g-g-gold," he said. "I don't know what The-Theora's t-t-talking about."

Edison snorted.

"Yeah, right," he muttered. "I'll believe that halo the day I believe Zik Zac and Network 23 are the best of friends."

Max gave him an incensed look while he laid his camera on a nearby table and took off his long, battered leather trench coat. He eyed Max while he laid the coat beside the camera.

"Behave," he said, pointing to him.

"I am b-b-behaving, what are you t-t-t-talking about?" Max replied. "Can't a man just stare at his human counterpart in p-p-peace?"

Edison shook his head and ignored him while he ran his hand through his sandy blonde hair.

"I guess I'll have to tell Reg his friend was less than reliable," he said to Theora. "Although…that cult member was in there and the wires could have been hooked up to something. Maybe they were tipped off and got out of there before we came."

"But if that's true, why leave the girl there?" Theora asked.

Edison shrugged.

"Calling card, maybe? The Cyber Messiah wanted to show off his handiwork? Leave a clue for us in a kind of cat and mouse game, who knows. All we know is that girl and the others like her won't be themselves ever again unless we find their original memories and find a way to download them back into their heads. Why though? Why would they do this to people?"

Theora shrugged.

"Maybe they're doing what Bryce did to you and making computer generated versions of them," she said.

Edison glanced at Max.

"God help us if they are," he muttered.

"Hey! I h-heard that," he said angrily. "I have never been so insul-sulted in all my life. If you think that way, I'll b-b-be off. Good day."

They watched while Max turned to his right and slid off the screen, leaving it black. Edison rolled his eyes and walked over to Theora.

"Anyway, control, what other hot stories have we got?" he said, leaning down behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The Doctor stuck his head outside the door and looked around.

"Well, we made it New York, 2360," he said.

They stepped outside and looked around while the Doctor closed the door behind them. They wrinkled their noses when they smelled a foul odor. There was rubbish all around them and nearby a group of people huddled in front of a bunch of old TVs that were stacked on top of each other.

"This is the future of New York?" Jack said, looking around. "It looks like a pit."

"Yes," the Doctor said. "Well, that's because there's severe overcrowding and pollution, hence the foul odor. Civilization at this time is completely dependent on computers and technology; everyone is cataloged and has a computer file from the time they're born until the time they die. This is the dying out of Earth just before the first Great and Bountiful Human Empire begins and then the humans branch out and inhabit other planets. Until then, they have to live elbow to elbow and New York is one of the worse cities in the world."

He looked at Dex.

"Your friend wanted to come here?"

He shrugged.

"He figured it'd be a good place to hide, Father."

"How? Everyone is constantly monitored here. I figured if he wanted to keep a low profile he'd go somewhere where CCTV wouldn't be watching his every move."

"That's where he asked me to drop him off," Dex replied.

"What's his human name?"

"Mark Patterson."

"Right, on the other hand, we can just go look up Mark Patterson on a computer, find his address, convince him to go back to the TARDIS, use the chameleon arch and we're done. So, let's get to it, my family."

They followed him when he walked off. While they passed the TVs, they glanced over at the dirty, shabbily dressed people huddling in front of them. Nearby, an oil drum was on fire giving them some heat and respite from the chilly air. A man was talking on the TV screens; his face was filling the entire screen like he was only a few inches from the camera lens. They paused a moment and watched.

"This is Blank Reg," the man said with an Australian accent, "and you're watching Big Time Television. The network for the Blank Generation. Now we're gonna play another video block for all of you blanks out there."

He slid his chair back slightly and they noticed his head was shaved except for three strips of hair on the sides that were dyed red and a large yellow Mohawk on top. He had numerous piercings in his ears and nose and was wearing a battered black leather jacket and black t-shirt. He pushed a button and a video of a heavy metal band started. They stared at the group of people who were staring at the screen, mesmerized. The Doctor beckoned to his family and they continued on.

They walked down the street and saw more trash and dirt. There were other indigents huddled together and a few mentally ill people screaming at each other while they fought over a TV.

"Lovely," Rose muttered, "nice to know that eventually the world is gonna be one big slum."

"Not everyone lives like this," the Doctor said to her. "This really is just the slums. Over there in the big city, there's a lot less filth."

Rain glanced up at one building that towered above all the others. On the front in big bold red letters was NETWORK 23. Clustered around them were other large skyscrapers but even the next tallest one was puny compared to the Network 23 one. The only other one with lettering on the front was one several feet away that had ZIK ZAK on the front in yellow letters.

"I'm guessing Network 23 and Zik Zak are very important companies," Alan said.

"Seems so, maybe we should try one of them first," the Doctor replied.

Just then, a haggard woman lunged herself at Awinita and she let out a huge gasp when she seized her arm.

"Got any credits, Honey?" she said.

The Doctor spun around and took hold of the lady's arm.

"Back off," he growled at her.

"I only want some credits."

"We don't have any," the Doctor insisted.

Awinita finally wrenched her arm out of her grasp and stepped back to Alan who took hold of her arms in a protective gesture. The woman glared at them and muttered curses about being skinflints while she wandered off.

"I hated to do that, she only wanted some credits," the Doctor said, "but if I didn't, we would have been swamped with others wanting our credit sticks and it's best to just keep those to ourselves before other tramps start beating us up and taking them off us."

Alan squeezed his sister's arms before letting go and they resumed walking towards the downtown portion of the city.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After thirty minutes, they reached downtown New York which was a lot cleaner and safer looking than the outskirts.

"I hope someone doesn't try to make off with the TARDIS while we're here, Bro," Awinita said.

"I don't think they will. The perception filter will help keep that from happening," the Doctor said.

"You hope," Mingxia added.

"Just have a bit of faith in me. It hasn't been nicked yet, has it? Besides what would people want with a big blue box? Technology is far more valuable here than a battered police box."

Rain noticed a couple of people nearby. They had silver earpieces like the ones the Cybermen used to control people. She pointed it out to the Doctor.

"No, Latara, I think that's their version of a mobile," he said. "It's not in both ears and they're talking to someone on the phone, not to mention that's not a cyber speech pattern, a gossipy speech pattern to be sure but not a cyber one."

He squeezed his wife's hand and they walked on towards Network 23. Reaching the building, they stepped inside, tried the inner door and found it locked. A CCTV camera focused right on them.

"Yes?" they heard a male voice say from an intercom next to the inner door, "what do you want?"

"Yes, hi, I'm the Doctor," he said, speaking into it, "we're looking for a computer we can use? We need to check something."

"There are no public computers here," the male said tersely, "try a cyber café or go home and get on your own computer."

"We don't have one," the Doctor said.

There was a sigh.

"What is this, some kind of stupid prank? Go away."

"But he's telling the truth," Donna said.

"Lady, who do you think you're fooling? Everyone has a computer. It's against the law not to have one. I wasn't born yesterday. Now go away before I summon security."

"Fine, we're going, thank you for your time," the Doctor said angrily.

They stepped outside.

"Okay, so where's a cyber café then?" Mingxia asked.

"I guess we'll just have to walk around and see if we can spot one. Come on," the Doctor said.

They walked away. While they walked, they noticed that almost every block had some kind of public TV screen which broadcast the news and there were people who were huddled around them watching intently.

"Boy, they sure do love their telly here," Donna said.

They crossed the street, noticing with some amusement that even though some of the technology they had seen was futuristic, the cars resembled those made in the 1950's, 60's and 70's. They made it across and continued on.

"Hopefully, we'll find one of these cyber cafés quickly," the Doctor said. "Once we do, we'll check for any mention of Mark Patterson and…"

"HELP! OH, GOD, HELP ME!"

They all froze when they heard a female screaming far above them. They jerked their heads up and noticed a man standing on top of the building holding a woman near the edge while he held a gun to her head.

"SHUT UP, BITCH, OR I'LL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT!" he screamed at her.

The Doctor glanced at his family.

"I guess we'll have to take a slight side trip on our way to the cyber café then," he said.

They quickly hurried to the front door of the building. The Doctor tried the door and when he found it locked, he whipped out his sonic screwdriver, opened it and quickly disabled the CCTV camera just inside it. Once that was done, all of them ran across the grey marble floor of the office building, taking notice that no one was around them and there was no one sitting at the reception desk.

"Why do I have a feeling this is a huge hostage situation we're walking into?" Jack said.

The door slid open and all of them crowded inside. The Doctor hit the button for the top floor and all of them readied their screwdrivers while the elevator took them up.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The elevator doors opened and to their relief there was no one in the corridor. The hallway they were in was long with closed doors evenly spaced on either side. At the end of it was a huge glass window, a table and two chairs and a couple of potted plants.

_Be on your guard,_ the Doctor thought to them.

He and his family held their screwdrivers at the ready while they walked along the corridor. The Doctor noticed Jack doing something out of the corner of his eye and he sighed when he saw him pulling out his gun.

_Jack, don't you dare kill anyone,_ he thought angrily.

_I won't, alright?_ He thought back._ I'm gonna use it to defend us but I promise I won't kill anyone._

He nodded and glanced at Dex who didn't have anything.

_Stay behind me, Son_, the Doctor thought_. When we get done finding Nelak and leave, I'll have to make you a screwdriver. But for now, just let us protect you. _

He nodded and moved behind him. Rose and Donna closed in on either side of him while they looked around. So far, nothing had shown up to threaten them. The Doctor noticed some CCTV cameras above them and he disabled them in case the hostage takers were watching.

They nearly made it to the end of the hallway when they suddenly heard faint scared voices behind a door on their right. It was followed by a man screaming at them to shut up or he'd blow their brains out. The Doctor glanced at his family.

_Ready?_ He thought to them.

They nodded. He quietly turned the knob, found the door was locked and used his screwdriver on it. He turned the knob slowly, glanced at everyone and mentally counted to three. Once he reached three, he quickly flung the door open, startling the two gunmen. Both of them were dressed as punks. One had a purple Mohawk with numerous piercings. The other had jet black spiked hair with piercings and was wearing black eye shadow and lipstick.

"Who the fuck are you?" Purple Mohawk demanded.

He aimed his gun at the Doctor but he and his family quickly disabled it and the other gun with their screwdrivers. Alan and Jack ran up to the confused punkers and decked them in the face, sending them to the floor. The Doctor made a quick head count of the captives and determined there were 25 men and women, all dressed in business suits, skirts, blouses and dresses.

"Is everyone all right?" he said to them.

They nodded. The Doctor looked at the two punkers who were being hoisted to their feet by Jack and Alan.

"What's going on here? How many of you are there and how many hostages?" he demanded.

Purple Mohawk snorted.

"Like we'd tell you, Baby Face," he said.

He gasped when Alan jerked on his hair.

"I think you better tell him or you'll have to deal with the angry brother of Baby Face," he snarled at him, "and trust me, that'd be an unwise move on your part. Now answer his question."

He jerked on the Mohawk again and the man grunted in pain.

"Don't tell em anything, Zac," Spiked Hair said to him. "Tig will slit you from neck to navel if you spill any information."

"Yeah, well, I'll put a bullet in your brain if you don't." Jack growled at him.

He noticed the Doctor's angry look when he said that.

_I'm not going to, Doc, it's a bluff,_ he thought to him.

The Doctor relaxed at that. He walked over to Spiked Hair.

"You heard my friend, what's going on here?" he said to him.

He held up his sonic device.

"See this? Sonic disrupter. It can turn your brain to goo in less than two seconds, so out with it because I gather if you talk or don't talk, either way you'll be dead."

"I won't say a word," Spiked Hair spat out.

"Fine then, have it your way."

He punched him hard in the face rendering him unconscious. Jack let go and turned his attention to Zac. While he was doing that, he noticed the others were getting the shaken hostages out of the room and escorting them back to the elevator. He grabbed hold of the man's leather jacket.

"See your friend? I can do much worse to you," he said, taking advantage of his fear. "So talk! How many of your mates are here and how many hostages?"

The man gulped when he saw the fury in the Doctor's piercing brown eyes.

"There are several hostages locked behind doors on this floor. Seven are up on the roof with our leader.

"I take it that's Tig?"

He nodded.

"And what do you want?"

"Credits and a safe way out. We busted out of prison and the cops were following us but we managed to elude them and we took hostages to ensure they didn't shoot us on sight. They've probably surrounded the building by now and we want credits and a safe passage out of the city."

"Sorry, mate, that's not gonna happen. Thanks for the info. Now you go to sleep and when you wake you'll be going back to prison. Nighty night."

He pinched a nerve in his neck and the man gasped and passed out. Alan dropped him to the floor and they ran out the door. The Doctor shut and locked it with the screwdriver. He glanced at his family who were coming back down the hallway.

_Did you get the other captives out?_ He thought to them.

They nodded.

_Good. There are others locked behind some of these doors. Set them free and we'll deal with the nutter on the roof. But be careful, we got information from one of them and he claims it's just the three of them in here, but he could be lying so keep an eye out for other gunmen. _

They nodded. Rain and Rose gave their husbands kisses for good luck and the Doctor, Alan and Jack headed towards the stairs while the others went to free the hostages.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tig stood at the edge of the roof holding the female captive in one arm with his gun pointed at her temple. A few feet away, the five men and woman sat on the concrete whimpering with fear. He glanced down and saw the police cars below surrounding the building. He cursed when he saw the hostages Zac and Gib were supposed to be guarding hurry out the door to the safety of the squad cars. He cursed again. He had met the two when they were in prison together and they had come up with the escape plan but they had been nearly caught by the guards on the way out and the police had been tailing them ever since. They had managed to steal and hotwire a car but when it looked like they might catch up, they got away from them long enough to ditch the car a few blocks from the office building, ran as fast as they could and ran inside the building. While Zac and Gib rounded up the hostages, he locked the door. Then he managed to convince the manager to get everyone to cooperate with them and after separating them and putting them in different rooms, he picked seven of them and brought them up to the roof, locking the door behind them. Unfortunately, in the chaos he failed to see one stupid worker activating a silent alarm and he shot him dead. He had "borrowed" an ear mobile from one of the male hostages and after forcing the owner of it to scream the phone number down to the cop, he got in contact with one of them and was currently giving him their demands. They were going along with it until the hostages walked out the door and then he noticed the officer started hesitating. Tig cursed.

"I mean it, Pig! I'll kill the seven up here and then I'll go through and kill the rest like I did to the one idiot," he said to the officer. "And don't think I won't do it because I will. I was already doin' time for murder in the clink, so it doesn't matter to me if I murder everybody in his building!"

"Just calm down," the officer said to him. "Just tell us what you want. There's no need to hurt or kill any more innocent people. Just talk to me."

Tig smirked.

"I told you I want one million credits transferred into my credit account and I want a guarantee that we'll be able to leave the city and that means none of your fellow piggies trying to follow us and finding out where we've gone to. Do all that and I'll let the remaining hostages go."

"Here's a better idea. Surrender and go back to jail with your friends."

Tig spun around and saw three men standing behind him. Two twin brothers who were pointing little weird pen-like devices and another man who had a gun aimed at his head.

"How'd you get up here? I had the door locked!" he said, aiming his gun at them.

"Yeah, well, my brother and I are extremely good at opening locked doors. Now…surrender and come with us or face the consequences."

"Fuck that! I told you and your pig buddies not to come up here. Now all of you are gonna die!" he said.

He noticed the twins turning on their devices. He stared at the small blue light at the tip and snorted.

"What's that? Your little flashlights? You signaling a rooftop sniper or something?" he said. "Well, sniper or no sniper, you're all dead meat!"

He tried the gun and frowned when it didn't fire. The Doctor glanced at his brothers and smiled.

"What the hell?" the man said.

He grunted when Jack suddenly lunged at him, wrenched the gun out of his hand and put his arms behind his back. While the woman got away from him, Alan plucked the ear mobile off his ear and put it on his own.

"Is this one of the police?" he said while the Doctor reassured the hostages and helped them to their feet.

"Yes," the police office said to Alan, "who are you?"

"I'm one of the rescuers. My family and I took it upon ourselves to come up here and capture the felons and free the hostages. Everyone is safe now and the criminals are all contained if you want to come inside. I have some family members on the fourth floor. The rest of the hostages are there and they're letting them go now. So you can go ahead and move in, officer."

"Are you and your family fucking nuts? Why would you do something so stupid?" the officer said.

"Because we have this bad habit of saving people. My family and I can't stand by and let innocent people suffer. Now are you coming up? Because we'll bring them all down if you don't."

"No, we're coming in. But how do we know this isn't a trap?"

"It's not, trust me."

"Alright but be aware that we're all armed and if you try something we'll kill you without a second thought."

"I'll keep that in mind," Alan said, rolling his eyes.

He turned off the mobile and held it out to the hostages. A man in his early twenties in a brown business suit stepped forward and took it from him.

"Thank you, whoever you are," he said.

Alan smiled.

"Happy to help," he said.

After a couple of the officers reached the roof, Jack let them have Tig and they all headed down to the fourth floor to be reunited with their family.

"We found all the hostages," Rain said. "Is the other guy…"

"Yeah, we got em," the Doctor said, nodding. "He's in police custody now."

"Good," Rose said.

They looked over when the elevator doors opened and two cops walked towards them. One of them had a comm device over his ear.

"We found em," he said into it.

"Ah officer, yes," the Doctor said, "we've managed to free everyone and…"

He trailed off when the cops pulled out their guns.

"We're not on their side," he said angrily.

"Identify yourselves," the officer without the comm device said while he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out something resembling a Blackberry.

They told them their names. The officer with the Blackberry waited till they finished.

"Okay, now give me your ident numbers so I can check your files," he said.

The Doctor frowned.

"Pardon?"

"Ident numbers, buddy. You know, your personal identification code you've had since birth. What is it?"

"Um, we don't have any."

The officers glared at them.

"Oh, so you're a blank, is that it?" he said.

"No, I'm not a blank. We're travelers, we're not from here," the Doctor said.

"That doesn't matter; everyone on Earth has an ident number…everyone that is, except for blanks. And if you are blanks, then you're all under arrest for deleting your personal files from the central database."

The Doctor held up his hands in front of him.

"Look, I know it might be hard for you to grasp this but we're not from Earth."

The cops snorted.

"Yeah right, blank, that's cute. Now all of you come with us peacefully…unless your family has ident numbers we can check."

The Doctor sighed and shook his head.

"Then all of you come with us to the station for questioning," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I told you, the Doctor is my real name!"

The Doctor was sitting in the interrogation room at a large wooden table with two officers across from him. He had volunteered to go first while his family sat in separate cells. One officer was in his mid fifties with salt and pepper hair and the other in his mid forties was a bald black man. After searching him and his family and confiscating all their personal effects, he had been taken into the small cramped room where they'd been trying to question him for the past half hour, getting him to tell them his real name and getting more and more frustrated when the Doctor was the only name he would tell them.

"Doctor is not a real name," the older officer said. "Now Doctor does sound like an assumed name a blank would use and if you're trying to protect your identity for some reason or another then you're wasting your time because we'll find it out sooner or later."

"Look, I am telling you the truth. I demand to take a lie detector test to prove mine and my family's innocence!"

"You're not in a position to demand anything from anybody. If you and your family are blanks, you'll be going to the Liberty Island Penitentiary for a very long time. So if I were you, I'd tell us the truth and cut some time off your prison sentence!"

"I am trying to tell you the truth, but you won't believe me which is why I want to be hooked up to a polygraph! I don't want to go to prison when I'm innocent and I don't want my family in there either. You keep insisting I'm a blank and I'm not. I don't have a file because I'm not from Earth, d'ya get that?"

The two men looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I think we need to order a psych eval," the black man said. "Man's obviously nuts."

The Doctor gritted his teeth. He was nearly ready to fight his way back to the cell block, get his family out and fight their way to freedom. He knew the officers were already convinced he was a blank and a crazy blank at that. He was either going to end up in prison or a mental institution if he didn't think fast.

Just then a female cop opened the door to the interrogation room and whispered for the officers to come with her. They nodded, glared at the Doctor and walked out, locking the door behind them. The Doctor instantly looked around trying to figure a way out of the room. A few minutes later, the door opened but a different man stepped inside and closed the door. He was long and lean and in his early thirties. He had sandy blonde hair, blue eyes and was wearing black trousers, a black shirt, white trainers and a long battered trench coat. He smiled at the Doctor while he watched him warily.

"I heard on the news that you and your family had been incarcerated," he said, sitting down in the seat the black man had occupied earlier. "My name is Edison Carter, but you probably already know that."

"No, actually, I don't," the Doctor replied.

He noticed the shocked look on his face.

"Really? Wow, you must have really been out of the loop. I know a lot of the blanks spend their free time watching Big Time Television, but still…"

"Look, I'm not a…"

Edison held up his hand.

"My friend Reg is a fellow blank and he asked me to come and secure your release for you and your family."

The Doctor quickly stopped protesting that he was not a blank.

"You can get us out of here?"

"Of course I can," he said, smugly. "I'm Edison Carter, after all."

The Doctor had no idea how that was so significant but if it meant he could get him and his family out of prison, he was willing to sit back and let him do all the work.

"But, we're under arrest," the Doctor felt obligated to add. "We're blanks. They say we're going to prison and…"

"And as I told you, I have a bit of influence here. I have made a lot of close friends in the police department and I can get them to pull a few strings and let you go."

"Thank you for that."

Edison nodded.

"I got one question for you though," he said.

The Doctor gave him a wary look.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you help out the hostages when you and your family are blanks? Didn't you realize that the police would find out and arrest you?"

"My family and I are dedicated to fighting injustice wherever we find it. We consider it our sworn duty."

Edison was intrigued.

"Really? And how have you managed to live as blanks if you're out constantly saving people."

"We usually keep a very low profile and leave before the officers arrive."

"Well, I commend you for that. Not every blank would do that. In fact, the only other blanks I know of who would help out anyone are my friends Reg and Dominique and they've come close to being nabbed on several occasions. But don't worry, I'll help you and your family get out of here so you can be on your way."

"Thank you; I appreciate that from the very bottom of my…heart. But…"

"Yeah?"

"I have a favor to ask of you."

"Yes?"

"Can we borrow your computer after we get out of here?" he said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Thank God someone finally listened," Jack said while he and the others stood in the lobby of the police station.

After a half hour wait, Edison had finally convinced his friends to talk to the higher ups and let them go. They had just gotten their property back and were waiting on their benefactor to show up so they could go and check his computer. While they waited, a few officers passed by giving them dirty looks but they said nothing to them and went on about their business.

"I guess we learned one thing about being here," Donna said. "Don't help others or you'll end up in a jail cell alongside them."

"That's as may be but I'm not about to stop helping others if they need our assistance," the Doctor said softly. "We'll just know now not to hang around afterwards."

They looked over when Edison strolled up with a young blonde haired officer. Edison laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Well, I gotta go, Jake," Edison said to him. "Let me know if you have any more leads on the cyber cult, okay?"

"Sure thing, Edison. Talk to ya later," he said, turning around and waving to him.

The Doctor frowned.

_Cyber cult,_ he thought to his family, _hmmm, wonder what that's about?_

Edison smiled at the Doctor.

"Sorry about that, had to stop to talk to an old friend," he said. "So, if you'll follow me. I'll take you to Network 23 and…"

"Wait," Alan said. "We just came from there. They wouldn't let us in. They said they had no public computers."

"Yes, that's true. But you're with me and they'll let you in that way…as long as you behave yourselves, that is. I think they'll frown on you hacking into the database or something like that."

"We'll do absolutely no hacking, I promise," the Doctor said.

"Then follow me."

They followed him outside and walked with him towards Network 23. Edison glanced at them.

"So who are all of you?" he asked him.

"Well, my name is the Doctor. This woman beside me is my wife, Rain. Behind her is my brother, Alan and his wife, Rose. The other man is my brother, Jack and the other blonde haired woman is my daughter, Jenny. Beside her is my son, Dex and the others are my sisters, Awinita, Mingxia and Donna."

"You mean your whole family are blanks?" Edison said in disbelief. "What did you do, if you don't mind my asking? Hack into a government database or something?"

"No, we just like to keep a low profile. We're not much for people poking into our business," the Doctor said. "All of us like our privacy."

"Is that why you don't have a computer?" Edison asked. "I mean, you're the first blanks I've heard of that didn't own one."

"We aren't that interested in them. We prefer the telly over the computer," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"Then why do you need to use one?"

"Well, we're searching for someone. My son has a friend that's gone missing and he'd like to see him again."

"And your friend's name is…"

"Mark Patterson," Dex said.

"Well, I'll see what I can do then," Edison said.

"Incidentally, what's this about a cyber cult?" the Doctor said, casually.

Edison was shocked.

"You don't know? It's big news; all the major networks have broadcasted it."

"We've been out of the loop," the Doctor said. "We've been traveling out of state."

"Yeah and it's been broadcast worldwide as well," Edison said, giving him a condescending look. "I know you're blanks but you do remember that all networks broadcast worldwide, right?"

"We were traveling far out in the country where they didn't have TVs," the Doctor said, trying to keep from snapping at him and saying something rude that would prevent them from getting into Network 23. "So, what is this cyber cult? Just pretend I'm a total idiot and enlighten me."

"It's a secret cult," Edison said. "So far that's all anyone really knows about it. No one knows the true identity of the man running it. He's only known as the Cyber Messiah and his cult is known as The Church of the Cyber Resurrection. We don't know what goes on inside, who the members are or where it's at. We think they brainwash people to go out on the streets and recruit others but we're not completely sure since no one's come forward to tell anyone. But we have found several members left out in the open, completely drained of all their memories, just turned into human shells, for want of a better word. That's all we've found out at this time."

The Doctor was intrigued.

"Do you any footage of any of these victims?" he asked Edison.

"Yes, matter of fact I found another one this morning. Young girl in her teens was left in an abandoned building, her mind completely drained."

"Oh God, that's horrible," Rain said. "Can they help her get back her memories?"

Edison shook his head.

"Not without a way to download them back into her mind," he said.

_God, what kind of sick bastard would do that?_ Rose thought to the others. _Especially a teenager._

_Well, most cults aren't known for being nice to their followers, Starlight,_ Alan thought back.

_And let me guess, we're gonna find out what's happening now?_ Mingxia thought.

The Doctor looked back at her, grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

_You lot should know me well enough by now to know I wouldn't go without having a dekko at this whole cyber cult thing,_ he thought.

_Yup, that's Bro for ya,_ Awinita thought, _gotta stick his nose into every little thing._

_Well, sticking his nose into every little thing better not lead to more jail time or he'll be the next one to suffer a brain drain,_ Donna thought.

They reached the Network 23 building and followed Edison inside. The CCTV camera turned to them and Edison pulled out his ID card and showed it to the camera.

"Edison Carter and guests," he said aloud.

There was a click and Edison opened the door.

"Follow me," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Theora looked up from her monitor and her eyebrows rose when she saw the crowd behind Edison. She was a young woman in her twenties with shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes and a thin build. He quickly introduced them.

"And this is Theora Jones, my controller," he said when he finished introductions. "She helps guide me when I'm out and about and supplies me with leads and information."

"Are these the blanks you got out of prison?" Theora said with a British accent.

"Yeah, they need to use the computer, Theora. I told them they could so if you could look up a missing friend for them? Mark Patterson?"

Theora nodded and ran a search. Edison looked at the Doctor.

"Let her do this for you since this is Network 23 property. I trust you won't foul up anything but if my editor, Murray, saw you on our computers…"

"It's fine. I don't mind," the Doctor said.

He and his family came around behind Theora. After a minute, the search ended.

"Um, well, there are about thirty Mark Pattersons worldwide," Theora said, turning to look at them. "Got anything that might narrow down the search?"

The Doctor looked at his son.

"Dex? Can you help her out?"

Dex came forward.

"Well, I'm pretty sure he's here in New York City," he said to Theora. "He'd be about my age. Early forties. Has…had short brown hair, blue eyes, Caucasian, thin build, bout…5 foot 9 inches…um…no distinguishing marks on his body, no piercings, at least not when I saw him last. No family that I know of."

"Do you know his ident number?" Theora asked.

"No, I don't, sorry."

Theora typed all the information into the search box while Dex stepped back and stood beside his father. While she was searching, Murray passed by, saw them and stopped. He walked over to Edison.

"Having a party at your workspace, Edison?" he said, gesturing to them.

"Of course not, Murr, there'd be strippers here if it was a party," he said.

He sighed when Murray gave him a dirty look.

"No, they're here because they needed a favor from me. They're trying to find a missing person, alright? They're all behaving themselves."

"Well, who are they?"

"If I told you, would you flip out?"

Most likely. Especially since you just said that, now who are they?"

"They're blanks. Friends of Reg."

"Why aren't they using their own computers to find this missing person?"

"We don't own any," the Doctor said.

Murray was shocked.

"You're blanks and you don't own computers?" he said.

"Yes, we're very anti-technology blanks," the Doctor said. "We're trying to start our own Amish Blank community. Sod electricity and technology, it's back to the horse and buggy for us."

Edison clamped down on his jaw keeping his laughter in while Murray let out an exasperated sigh.

"Just get them out of here as soon as they're done, Edison. I don't need Cheviot screaming at me because we had blanks in here."

"Will do, Murr," Edison replied.

Murray shook his head and walked off. The Doctor watched him go and then looked at Edison.

"Cheviot?" he said to him.

"Head of Network 23. His boss."

The Doctor's mouth formed an O.

Theora waited till they were finished speaking.

"I didn't get any matches on a Mark Patterson in New York with that description," she said.

The Doctor glanced at Dex.

"Moved out of state perhaps?" he muttered to him.

Dex nodded.

"Can you check worldwide then? He may have moved," Dex said to her.

Theora nodded. She ran a check and shook her head when it was finished.

"No one matches that exact description. If I had an ident number, I could check death records but if you don't know it, we're stuck."

"Damn," Dex muttered, "this isn't gonna be easy, Father."

"Well, suppose he's one of these blank blokes," Alan said to them. "He might have…erased his ident number."

"Then he's out of the database and I really don't have a way of finding him," Theora said.

_And if he came here, I'm betting he doesn't have one and he's living as a blank somewhere_, Alan thought to them.

Rain had a thought.

"These cult members…you said they don't know the identities of the ones that came back with the memory loss but surely the other cult members have families that are missing them and might suspect what happened," she said. "Is there a way to get a list of people who might have been abducted by them because I'm thinking if my son's friend accidentally got involved with them…"

"There's no real way to check that either," Theora explained. "There are missing person's reports we could go through but we'd have no real way to verify if they were abducted by the cyber cult or not. All we'd have to go on is heresay."

"Yes, but is there a Mark Patterson that did go missing at some point?" Rain said.

The Doctor smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

_Good thinking, Latara,_ he thought to her.

_Thanks, I just hope to God he didn't end up in this cult,_ she thought back.

She searched under missing persons and shook her head.

"Nope, no Mark Patterson there either," she said.

All of them let out frustrated sighs.

"Sorry, Son, I guess we have to do this hard way," the Doctor said.

"Can I ask you something?" Edison said to the Doctor.

"Sure."

"He's your son?"

The Doctor already knew where this was headed.

"Adopted son," he lied. "Had an older friend who died and I agreed to look after him and I consider him my son and when I married, my wife adopted him as well."

"Okay, I was gonna say, if that's your son that's one hell of a face lift you had since he's older than you are. Thanks for clearing that up," Edison said.

"No problem."

"As for your friend, I don't know what to tell ya if he's not showing up in the database. If he did decide to become a blank then it's unfortunate because now there's no way to track him. I do support most of the blank lifestyle since I have Reg and Dominique as close friends but there are downsides to it and this is a huge one right here. Without identification, your son's friend is as good as gone until he turns up. Now I could take you to Reg and he might know him if he's a blank but we can't help you here."

"Could you do that?" the Doctor said. "I hate to keep bothering you but it's really important that we find him."

Edison shrugged.

"It's not a problem, I was gonna head there anyway. Reg has a friend who has a friend that supposedly managed to escape from the cult and gave us information on the whereabouts of it but the only thing we found when we got there was the teenage girl."

"Yes, you said you were gonna let us see the footage?" the Doctor said.

He nodded.

"Theora, bring up the footage for them," he said.

The Doctor and his family neared closer while Theora reran the news footage from earlier. They stood around her watching quietly while they listened to Edison going through the building looking for the location of the cyber church. Their eyes widened when they watched him running into the room and kneeling next to the girl.

"Oh God," Rain murmured when she saw the blank look on her face.

"And they've all been like this?" the Doctor asked Edison.

"Yup, every single one of them, not a scrap of memory left in their heads."

"Why would someone do that?" Jenny asked.

"We're not sure," Edison said. "The only thing I can think of right now is they're trying to make computer generated copies, though why they'd wanna make a CG copy of this girl, I haven't the foggiest. But it's been done before with me, so I'm not ruling it out."

"Done before with you? You have a computer generated copy of yourself?" the Doctor said.

Edison rolled his eyes.

"Watch this," he said.

He walked over to the other computer screen which was currently blank.

"Max!" he yelled at the screen. "Max, can you come here a moment?"

The screen flashed and they saw a crude looking man wearing a shower cap on his head. He had on the top half of a black suit with a white shirt and black tie and he looked like he was made out of plastic. Behind him was a bunch of rotating multicolored stripes.

"What is it? I was in the s-s-s-shower! It never f-f-f-fails, I get in the b-b-b-bath and there's a yell at the screen," he said indignantly.

Edison rolled his eyes and looked at them.

"This is Max, my computer generated double," he said, gesturing to the monitor. "I'm sure you've seen him out and about on different networks."

"Yes, I'm quite the star star," Max said proudly.

"Wait," Rose said. "Someone stole your memories and made him?"

"Well, they copied them. This kid named Bryce Lynch works here down on floor 13. He's the head of research and development. One of those child geniuses that finished college at 11 or something like that. Anyway, a couple of years ago, if you remember, they had that whole blipverts scandal. Well I was the first one that found out blipverts caused fat people to explode when they watched them and to prevent me from telling the whole truth, this network board member named Grossberg tried to have me killed. I managed to elude security while I was here in the building and with the help of Theora got down to the basement and the parking garage down there. I tried to escape from it on a motorcycle I stole and almost did it. But at the last moment Bryce raised a ramp from the ground, blocking my way, and I went off the bike headlong into a barrier arm and was in a coma for awhile. The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the words MAX HEADROOM on the barrier arm and when Bryce downloaded my memory into the computer and made him, his first words were Max Headroom so he named himself Max. But he was supposed to take my place and deliver my news reports so no one would realize I was dead after they finally killed me."

"How?" Awinita said. "He looks nothing like you. You can tell he's not even alive."

"Yes, I know," Edison said, snorting. "Bryce's first experiment was a computer generated parrot and it looks nothing like a real parrot either. But Max here is completely sentient and aware of everything we say and do and he can see us and on top of that, he's been a pain in the ass since day one."

"I have not. I have been a g-g-g-great help to y-y-y-you. I am not a p-p-p-pain in the ass," Max said. "I am w-w-w-witty and fun to be with."

"And he does that too. The stuttering and skipping. According to Bryce there was too much of my memory for the program to handle and it caused him to skip while everything tried to settle down. But I guess it never did since he's still stuttering now. He's also a little on the hyper side and a smart ass to boot," Edison said.

"So let me get this straight," the Doctor said. "You basically have a clone of yourself that's hyper and smart-alecky and makes a general nuisance of himself."

"Yup."

Rose giggled when the Doctor gave Alan a pointed look.

_Gee, I guess I know what it's like having Max around then,_ he thought to Alan.

_Hardy har har,_ Alan thought back while the other women giggled.

"But anyway, this is the only reason I can think of for taking a person's entire memory," Edison said, gesturing to the monitor.

"It's not this Bryce person that's doing it, is it?" Jack asked.

"It better not be, by God," Edison said angrily, "or Boy Genius will be the next one to get drained and I'll be the one pushing the download button."

"I can assure you, B-B-Bryce is not s-s-s-stealing people's mem-memories," Max said. "He's too busy watching P-P-Pornovision to do that."

"He's doing what?" Edison said, shocked.

Max smirked.

"Only k-k-k-kidding. I'm such a impish little liar s-s-s-sometimes."

"See what I mean," Edison said to them.

"Well, would this Bryce know how to find Mark?" Dex asked.

Edison frowned.

"I don't think so. Then again, he does do a lot of things I don't understand. I suppose we can go down there and check before talking to Reg but I wouldn't hold my breath. As clever as he is, I'm sure even he doesn't know a way to access wiped files. But just follow me. Theora, I'm taking my camera with me just in case and don't tell Murray I'm taking the blanks down to see Bryce, alright?"

"Will do," she said. "Nice meeting all of you. I sincerely hope you find your friend."

They thanked her. Edison grabbed his camera, beckoned to the others and they followed him out of the newsroom.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: The three sisters Alan speaks of are Grace Holloway, Martha Jones and Madison Reece. They and Jack were made into Time Ladies and Time Lord in Life With The Family.

Chapter Five

The elevator doors opened and all of them stepped out on level 13. There was a long corridor but they couldn't see any doors along it. Edison walked up to the end, turned right and there was one door at the end of it. Next to it was another CCTV camera focused down on the floor in front of the door and beside the door was a security keypad.

"This way," Edison said to them.

"Isn't there any other rooms on this floor?" Alan asked.

"Nope, this is Bryce's private floor. Actually floor 13 is a secret and so is Bryce which is why he's the only one here. If you noticed 13 isn't even listed inside the elevator. Theora has to guide me here whenever I want to talk to the little brainiac otherwise; I have to take the stairs."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside Bryce's quarters, Bryce was lounging lazily in his computer chair playing with a toy robot hand making it grip his soda can over and over. Above him was a cage with a red and blue macaw in it and in front of him and all around him were numerous computer monitors. The screen directly beside him was playing an action show about some mercenary sent to liberate New Paris from a terrorist organization. Suddenly the audio cut out and he jerked his head around to see Max grinning at him.

"You're gonna have v-v-viiiiiiiiiistoooooooors!" he said in a high-pitched singsongy voice.

"Huh?" Bryce said.

Just then the image of Max was replaced with the CCTV camera's image of Edison looking up at it.

"It's me, Bryce. I have guests, let us in," he said.

Bryce reached to hit the button to unlock the door and Max appeared back on the monitor.

"Told ya," he said smugly.

Bryce hit the button and Edison came inside while he swiveled his chair around. He frowned when Edison let the others in behind him.

"Okay, who are they?" Bryce said.

"Friends in need of help, that's who they are," Edison said.

The Doctor and his family looked at Bryce. He looked like he was 17 with short brown hair that was feathery and layered on top. He had huge glasses on his face and he lounged in his chair with a smug little smirk on his face. Edison quickly made introductions and Bryce nodded.

"Ah and so you've come to me for help," he said, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "And what is it you need help with?"

"We're looking for a missing person," the Doctor said. "My son has a friend that may be a blank or may have been abducted. Either way he's not in the database."

"And you're hoping I'll be able to find him for ya," Bryce said.

"Yes, if you could help us," the Doctor said.

Bryce shrugged.

"I could try. I have a few programs that might be able to restore wiped files but I can't guarantee anything. Let me take a look though. What's his name?"

"Mark Patterson," the Doctor said.

Bryce turned to the monitor and they noticed Max jump from that screen to the one next to it so he could watch. While he did his search, Rain glanced at Max while she stood beside the other monitor and noticed him giving her a charming smile.

"Hi there," he said to her. "Ever d-d-dated a computer g-g-generated man?"

The Doctor, who was beside her, held his wedding ring up to the monitor.

"I assume you can see this," he said to him. "And the identical one on her left hand."

"Ooops, s-s-sorry for the faux p-p-as," he said. "I didn't realize she was with y-you."

When the Doctor turned his attention back to Bryce, Max gave her a devilish grin and a speech balloon appeared above his head with the words CALL ME in them. Rain turned her attention back to Bryce and Max shrugged while the balloon disappeared with a tiny pop.

Bryce frowned.

"I've been able to pull up some corrupted files, not much left in them but enough to know who the files belonged to and none of them belong to Mark Patterson," he said, turning to face Edison.

The Doctor and his family groaned.

"Sorry, I mean there is a chance the file didn't come up but I've managed to pull up all the ones I could salvage which wasn't much," he said. "Was your friend a blank?"

The Doctor sighed.

"He was a blank in that he didn't have this ident code or file but I think the reason you didn't find him was he was never entered in the system to begin with."

Bryce and Edison stared at him.

"Never entered in the system?" Bryce said. "That's ridiculous. Everyone gets an ident code at birth, even stillborns. How could your friend have not been entered in the system?"

"Look, we're not from around here and when I say that, I mean we're not from Earth. None of us have this ident code because we weren't born here."

Bryce looked at Edison.

"You hang around with crazy people now?" he said.

"We're not insane; I'm telling you the truth."

"So…you're from…outer space?" Edison said.

"Yes."

"Even though you look like us," Bryce said.

Rain glanced at Max and noticed he was staring at all of them intently.

"We look humanoid, yes, but we're not," the Doctor said. "We're looking for one who used to be like us but he turned himself human and at the moment he is human."

They stared at him.

"Mark Patterson is an alien disguised as a human?"

"Yes. He's my son's friend and we want to find him and turn him back to normal. But unfortunately without this so-called ident code, it's like looking for a needle in a sodding haystack. But that's why we don't have a computer that's hooked up to the global network. I have a computer in my ship but at this time the internet isn't universal and there's no way I can look it up which is why I needed your help."

"Wait, you have a ship? You mean a spaceship?" Bryce said.

"Yes."

"Um…where? You mean you landed it in the middle of the city?" Edison said.

"On the outskirts."

Their eyes went wide.

"You landed a high tech spaceship out in the fringes where people could cannibalize it?" Edison said.

He paused a moment and shook his head.

"Wait, I'm talking like I actually buy all this. God, I'm beginning to believe your delusion."

The Doctor reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out his stethoscope.

"Listen to my heartbeat," he said, handing it to Edison.

Edison glanced at Bryce, took the stethoscope and put the earbuds in his ears while the Doctor loosened his black tie, unbuttoned his brown jacket and white shirt and exposed his bare skin. Edison put the stethoscope against his chest while everyone watched. He frowned.

"Your heartbeat is really erratic," Edison said. "I'm getting this weird double beat."

The Doctor guided the diaphragm over to the other side of his chest. Edison's eyes widened and he looked at the Doctor.

"I have a double beat because I have two hearts," he said to him. "And everyone in my family is the same way except for Jack. He's human. Now do you believe me?"

"Yeah, I'm convinced you're not a normal human at least," Edison said, handing the stethoscope back to him.

Alan stepped forward while the Doctor put it back in his pocket and buttoned his clothes back up.

"I know we sound like complete nutters but we're travelers in time and space," he said. "We come from the past in the year 2009. My brother's ship is a time machine. His son here really is his son, he's not adopted but there's a complicated reason why he looks older than he does. But there are six of his friends scattered throughout time and space that we're trying to find. His friend's real name is Nelak but he's used this thing called a chameleon arch and turned himself into a human named Mark Patterson. It's been several years since he's done it which is why we're not sure where he is now or if he's even alive. But we want to find him because our race only consists of us, three more of our sisters, one other woman who's in prison now and these six other missing men and women."

"Wow, I can see why you wanna find every last one of your kind then," Edison said. "So what is your kind called? Martians?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"No, Gallifreyans. We come from a planet called Gallifrey which is destroyed now. It burned and every one on it died. These six escaped it with my son before it was destroyed and we're trying to find them. But we're also known as Time Lords and Time Ladies in addition to being Gallifreyan," he said.

"Wow, cool name," Bryce said. "So, um…is your ship nearby?"

"It is. But I'm not sure about showing it to you lot since you happen to be a reporter and the last thing I want is for you to break this big story about us being aliens and have me and my family end up being dissected in a lab."

"I give you my word that I won't tell anyone what you are," Edison said. "And Bryce won't either, will ya?"

He gave him a pointed look.

"No, I promise I won't tell," he said.

Edison glared at Max.

"And you?" he said.

"My lips are s-s-sealed."

"What about Theora? Is it alright for her to know?" Edison asked.

"Theora's fine, but not your boss," the Doctor said.

Edison nodded.

"Done," he said. "The four of us will be the only ones who know then."

"Thank you. And in return, I would like to help you stop this cyber cult and find out who this Cyber Messiah is before anyone else gets hurt. I was telling you the truth when I said we fight injustice whenever we can find it and I want to see this mystery man stopped just as much as you do."

"Thank you," Edison said. "Any help we can get would be appreciated. However, if you're gonna do that then I want to make sure you don't get arrested by Metro Cops again. Bryce, can you give our friends some false ident numbers and some fake background information just in case we do get stopped?"

Bryce gave him a smug grin.

"Was Carl Sagan right about life on other planets?" he said, gesturing to the Doctor.

Edison glanced at the Doctor and rolled his eyes while Bryce worked at his computer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour later, he was done. The Doctor and everyone else had given him some rudimentary information, some true and some false. He then took a picture of each of them with a small web cam for their false files.

"There you go, you illegal aliens are all legal now," he said to them.

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

Bryce compiled a list of their ident numbers and printed it out. He handed the sheet to the Doctor.

"You need to memorize each of your numbers," he said to them. "It'll look really suspicious if they ask and you have to pull that out to tell them."

He nodded and looked at the series of numbers and letters under his name. He memorized it in two seconds and passed the sheet to his wife who did the same in the same amount of time. Each Time Lord and Lady was able to memorize it at a glance and they snickered when Jack had to stare at it, close his eyes and silently recite it, open his eyes and do it again before he got it down. Being the last, he handed it back to the Doctor who put it back in his pocket.

"Now, I guess before we leave, you two want to see our ship?" the Doctor said.

They smiled and nodded.

"What about m-m-me?" Max said, "I wanna see it too too."

The Doctor stared at the screen.

"How? You can't exactly pop out of the screen and walk with us, can you?"

"I can take care of that. I have a tiny monitor I can plug into the database and Max can get into it."

He rummaged in a drawer and brought out a small computer monitor similar to another blackberry.

"This is gonna be cramped, buddy," Bryce said to Max. "But you won't be in it for long."

He plugged it into the computer and they watched while Max jumped to the monitor in front of him and then into the tiny monitor. Bryce unplugged it.

"Okay, he's ready."

Edison smiled at them.

"Ready when you are," he said, gesturing to the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I hope your ship doesn't look high-tech," Edison said while he and Bryce followed behind them through the fringes. "There are a lot of blanks out here who would give their eyeteeth to get their hands on it."

"Actually no, it's very well disguised," the Doctor said. "Trust me, no one would want it. These blanks though, now if they do delete their entire files then that would make them a good target for this cyber cult, yeah? I mean, no files and they live out here in the slums, no one to miss them."

Edison nodded.

"That's my feeling as well. I've talked to Reg though and he only knows the one who claimed he escaped from the compound and if he's telling the truth, he's the first and only so far. It's possible the rest are blanks but Reg doesn't know them. But no one so far has come forward to claim any of the victims which makes me think they are."

"How long has this been goin' on?" Rose asked.

"Mmmm, about six months if you mean the mind wiping incidents but the cult is older than that, about three years old, give or take. It started with someone hacking into network feeds and broadcasting some weird video where this guy behind a heavy white screen spoke about the end of the world and that he was the only one who could lead everyone to salvation. The voice was distorted and he did such a good job that not even computers could restore it back to its original state. There followed a few more broadcasts like that and then word started circulating on the street that there were some who were out doing this recruiting in secret but no one supposedly saw or heard anything about these secret recruiters. But I guess they've managed to find followers since we now have some of them turning up mindless."

The Doctor led them into an alley and they stopped in front of the TARDIS. Both Edison and Bryce stared at it.

"That's your spaceship?" Bryce said.

"Yup, it is. It's a TARDIS, stands for time and relative dimension in space."

"How the hell do all of you fit into it without passing out from lack of air?" Edison said.

The Doctor and his family smiled while he reached into his pocket and pulled out his key. He unlocked it and swung the door back. Both Edison and Bryce's mouths dropped open.

"No way!" Bryce said.

They hurried inside and looked around. Bryce pulled Max out of a small bag and held the monitor up so he could see. The Doctor came inside with the rest of them and closed the door.

"Wait, how is this even possible?" Edison said, turning around.

The Doctor explained it while Donna and Rose grabbed Rory and Blizzard as soon as they came inside the console room and went to feed and walk them. While he talked, he tried to keep it simple for Edison since he sensed he was not as technically minded as his young friend who was staring at the console intently. While he talked, the others went to check on the ship, use the bathroom and grab a quick snack.

"So, all of you live here?" Edison asked when he finished.

"Yup, this is our home. Back there it has everything we could need to survive and we could theoretically stay in it forever but where's the fun in that? We go out all over time and space, explore and save people and places if they need it."

"Well, you've trusted me enough to reveal yourself and show me this and I promise I won't betray that trust," Edison said while Bryce nodded.

"Thank you. I just got tired of pretending to be a blank and trying to come up with complicated explanations for things. Not to mention having to explain why my son's friend was not in the database from the start."

"So…eventually, do humans go to other planets?" Edison said.

"Oh yeah, you lot spread all out, but not for another hundred years or so which is why no one in this time period believes we come from outer space. But finally the Earth becomes so crowded that humanity has no choice but to branch out to other planets."

Edison snorted.

"I can believe that. It's murder at rush hour around here, rush being a laughable word. I have a car and a nice penthouse apartment but not many have that and they're forced to live in cramped quarters and make do with packed subways. Actually, your being a time traveler also explains why you've never heard of me. The reason why I have a nice apartment and car is because I'm the top rated reporter globally. Network 23 is the top rated network and I'm their star which is why they tried to have me offed when they created Max. My face is known all over the world so you'll excuse my surprise when you said you didn't know me."

The Doctor nodded.

"Which is also why I had leverage in getting you out of prison and why they let you in to the Network 23 building with me. Trust me; I have a lot of connections. Unfortunately though, they apparently aren't helping you to find your friend. I suppose he wouldn't be using this other name, would he? Nelak, was it?"

"Yes, and no, he wouldn't. He wouldn't remember it except perhaps in dreams."

He pointed to the chameleon arch above the console and explained it to them.

"So, we're basically looking for a guy with an old fob watch on him," Edison said when he finished.

"Well, not necessarily. My son, Dex, was hidden the same way and he had his fob watch secreted away in the attic so he wouldn't find it. His human children found it and took it to him. It got opened and his Time Lord memories were restored to him."

"So you have to find this watch, open it near him and he remembers," Bryce said.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes."

"How do you know if it's the right fob watch and not just some antique?" Edison said.

"Because if I hold it in my hand, I can hear his consciousness speaking to me," the Doctor said. "Gallifreyans have the ability to feel each other's minds and speak telepathically."

"So you can feel everyone's mind in here?" Bryce said.

"Everyone except you and Edison…and Max, of course. But at the moment, I can feel my family in here and I can feel their moods. The only time I can't feel them is if they're knocked out, blocked by something or in another universe…and dead, obviously I can't feel them when they're dead."

"Wait, there are other universes too?" Bryce said, excited.

"Oh yeah, hundreds of them, maybe thousands. All separated from each other by this dead space called the void. In fact, my wife Rain, Awinita and Mingxia all originally came from another universe and Alan and Rose lived there for awhile. And Rose and Rain have family that still lives there. We have a void crosser that can go over the void and we see them occasionally. And actually, Edison, speaking of you and Max, my brother Alan is actually a clone as well. He was grown from a severed hand of mine but he's more like Max is so I know exactly how it feels to have a crazy copy of yourself running around."

"Severed hand, is one of those a false hand then?" Edison said, pointing to them.

"No…brrrrr, this is getting more and more complicated," the Doctor said, sighing. "Wait a tic, I'll see if the others are ready and I'll explain while we walk to Reg's place."

He telepathically asked his family if they were done and when they answered back that they were ready, he told them to come up front.

"I just spoke to them telepathically," he explained to Edison and Bryce. "They're ready to go now so if you're ready, let's go and talk to Reg."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the way over, the Doctor briefly explained regeneration and the severed hand and also explained about Dex and Jenny and why they were grown when he was still young. The two of them listened in silent fascination while they walked through the fringes. There was still the same kind of squalor they had seen in the outskirts of the city with people huddled under frayed and worn clothing trying to keep warm while they watched TV.

"That's all they really have out here," Edison said, pointing to them. "It's not just blanks, it's ordinary homeless people too. The overcrowding you mentioned took its toll, not just in resources but jobs as well. Blanks chose to slip through the cracks voluntarily but others are out here because they just couldn't survive in the dog eat dog world. Unfortunately, there isn't much people can do for them. Credits and money is tight and no one cares very much about them in the city. I try to fight for them but I'm only one man and I can only do so much. But I do try to bring to light any injustices that occur out there because as I said, not many give a damn about whether they live or die. And more than once I've been targeted for that and for general all around nosiness."

"Yup, same here," the Doctor said. "Both me and my family and a lot of my friends have been targeted because we also interfere and try to right injustices. I know exactly what you mean."

"Good, I'm glad someone does," Edison said. "I just hope we can help each other now. You help me end this cyber cult and I'll help you find your friend and turn him back to normal."

The Doctor and his family smiled and nodded. At length, they came to a big gaudy pink bus sitting by itself. It had a huge satellite affixed to the top and BIG TIME TELEVISION painted across it in big bold letters.

"This is it, my friends Reg and Dominique."

"Oh, he's the one with the yellow Mohawk then?" Alan asked.

"Yup, that's the one. I take it you saw him on TVs while coming to the city."

They nodded.

"He's big out in the fringes. Blanks love him because he's one of their own. He only plays heavy metal videos though, ancient ones that he has collected over the years. God knows where he found them."

He led them around the bus to a door near the back. He knocked on it and Reg opened the door a crack.

"Edison?" he said, opening it further.

"Hey, Reg. I need to talk to you. You know Bryce but these people behind me are the blanks that got arrested in the hostage situation."

"Ah! Glad to see they're free," Reg said, coming out and stepping down the small metal steps to the ground.

He shook the Doctor's hand.

"Blank Reg," he said.

"My name's the Doctor."

He introduced everyone else and Reg shook hands with all of them.

"Hold on a minute. I'll introduce my boss to ya," he said.

He climbed up and opened the door.

"Dom! Get your arse out here! We have company!" he yelled inside.

He closed the door and hopped back down. A moment later, the door swung open and a middle age woman with light brown curly hair and heavy eye makeup glanced at them.

"Everyone, this is Dom, my partner in crime. Edison and Bryce you know. This here's the Doctor, Rain, Jack, Jenny, Awinita, Donna, Mingxia, Dex, Alan and Rose. They're the blanks that were involved in the hostage situation."

"Nice to meet ya," Dominique said with an American accent.

She looked down at Reg.

"You need to come back inside. You need to announce another block of videos."

"Oh! Thanks love. 'Scuse me, Mates. Be back in a moment."

She moved away while he scrambled up the stairs and slammed the door shut beside him. Edison glanced at his friends.

"It's kinda a rinky-dink operation," he said.

"Yeah, kinda guessed that from the big pink bus," Donna said.

Reg emerged a moment later, came down the stairs and leaned against the door with his arms folded across his chest.

"What brings all ya here to Big Time Television?"

He looked at Bryce.

"Especially you. I don't think I've ever seen ya outside your cave before," he said to him.

"Yeah, well…I…was kinda in the mood for a walk and I took Max for a walk too," he said, pulling the monitor out of the bag. "And actually if you don't mind, I wanna plug him back into the system. I think he's getting a bit cramped.

"Sure, computers inside," he said, stepping away from the door.

Bryce went up and went inside. He emerged two minutes later and came back down.

"There, he's free to roam again," Bryce said, putting the monitor back in the bag.

"I'm f-f-freeeeeeeeeeee!"

They looked off to their left and saw Max on several TV screens rejoicing. Reg chuckled at him.

"So, what d'ya need from this old geezer?" he asked Edison.

"Well, first off your source got it wrong. At least, someone managed to tip off the cult beforehand because when I went there, it was empty except for another mindless cult member."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that, mate."

"Do you happen to know the name of this man who supposedly got out alive?" Edison asked him.

"No, but I can give you the name of our mutual friend and he can tell ya," Reg replied.

"Thanks. The second question I have is…do you happen to know a Mark Patterson? These blanks are looking for their friend and he's been missing for some time, I guess. We have reason to think he's a blank now. Have you ever heard of him?"

"Nope, sorry mate, don't know em. Course that don't mean much since I don't know every blank that's around here. He could be out here with the rest of em but I wouldn't know em if I saw em."

"Damn. Well, it was worth asking but if you could give us the name of your buddy so I can go talk to his friend…"

"No worries. I'll write his name and directions to his house on a piece of paper. Wait here."

Edison waited till he was gone before turning to the others.

"Sorry about that but at least we can find out more about the teenager and possibly where the cult is located if he knows about it."

He turned back to Bryce.

"Why don't you go back to your room in case we need you?" he said.

"Gotcha."

"I'll ask Reg to escort you back so you aren't bothered," he added.

A moment later, Reg stepped back out and handed him a small slip of paper.

"Now this is directions from this bus. Just start walking that way," he said, pointing over their shoulders, "and just follow everything I've put on the paper."

"Thank you and could you escort Bryce back to his "cave"?" Edison said with a wink. "We might need him and his technical skills at some point."

"No worries, I'll escort the little nag back to his lair. Just let me put on an extra long vid block and then I'll see him back to his dark little hole."

Bryce rolled his eyes. He wished everyone luck while Reg went back inside and stood by the door watching while Edison led the rest of them away.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Edison kept his eyes on the directions while he led his friends to Reg's friend's house. On the way they noticed even more squalor. Pieces of paper whipped around in the wind and rubbish was everywhere. They passed under an old bridge that had obviously seen better days. Looking up they could see large holes in the concrete and graffiti covered almost every square inch of it. There were more homeless people crouched underneath it, partially hidden in the shadows. Jack noticed them and his hand drifted to the butt of his gun while he gave them a wary look but no one moved towards them. The other men were also on guard and fanned out slightly covering the women on all sides but other than a few mutters and snorts and comments about how clean they looked, no one harassed them. They moved past the bridge and headed left. They walked through an area overgrown with weeds and littered with more trash and broken items. While they walked, something caught Rain's eye and she glanced down at a piece of doll's face that was missing the rest of the body. It was dirty and one of its eyes was closed, the other open as if it were winking at her. The further they went the more the smell became unbearable until they finally had to resort to their respiratory bypass systems just to keep from vomiting. Unfortunately, Jack didn't have that luxury so he resorted to pinching his nose shut and breathing through his mouth while Edison didn't seem to notice it at all. It wasn't just the pollution that stank, they could smell feces as well.

After a half hour they came upon a series of shelters. Some were made out of tents; some were dug into the ground with planks of wood over them with smoke curling up from fires lit below an open area in the makeshift roof. Then they saw ramshackle houses constructed of any material the owners could find. It reminded the Doctor of houses in third world countries. While they passed, people stepped outside and watched them. Again, the men were on alert but they did the same as the people under the bridge, glare at them and mutter about how they probably came down from the city to stare at them and make fun of them. The Doctor heard a couple of them mutter Edison's name while they wondered what he was doing among them and commenting on the nice camera he had and how many credits it might fetch. Edison ignored them all while he continued searching for the blank's house.

They finally located it and the Doctor noticed that it was a better looking house than the ones around it, which meant it was built of wood rather than sheet metal or scraps. It was tiny, looked like it only had a few rooms and it had once been painted white, although most of the paint had since peeled off the wood. The roof was made of sheet metal and there was an aerial that someone had tried to affix to one of the edges but was now currently sagging a bit to the right. The Doctor glanced around at everything.

"Um, Edison, if it's a crime to be a blank, how come so many are living out in the open like this?" the Doctor finally asked. "I know you said not everyone here is one but still, if they're that concerned about people not having proper identification wouldn't they be down here arresting everyone."

Edison chuckled.

"You'd think so but Metro Cops are notoriously lazy," he said. "Not to mention they don't enjoy being down here. They prefer the city where it's a lot cleaner. As a rule, they won't arrest blanks as long as they stay here and don't do anything illegal like hack into government files. Or if they get in their way like you did. It's kinda a win win relationship. The blanks get to live in peace and the cops get to pretend they don't exist and get spared filling out paperwork they don't wanna do. Which is one of the reasons why I was able to get all of you released from prison. But that's why they're so bold about living out in the open like this."

Edison knocked on the wooden door.

"Who's there?" they heard someone yell.

"My name is Edison Carter. I'm a friend of Blank Reg. I have some friends here and we wanted to talk to you for a moment?"

There was a long pause and they thought he wasn't going to open the door. But then the door opened a crack and they could see a green eye and part of a bearded face peek out.

"What'd ya want, newsman?" he growled at Edison. "You lookin' for a story, look elsewhere, I ain't done nothin' illegal!"

"I wanted to talk to you about your friend. The one who escaped from the cyber cult," Edison said.

The door opened a bit more and they noticed he was haggard and grizzled, thin, in his late 60's with graying hair.

"What 'bout 'im?" he said, eyeing Edison warily.

His wary gaze swept over everyone else.

"Who're all these people?" he said, pointing to them.

"These are my friends. I assure you we're not going to hurt you and we're not here for a story. I just need to talk to you about your friend. We want to visit him and talk to him personally because I wasn't able to find the location of the cult's hideout and I want to see if he knows more about it."

The man sighed deeply.

"Alright, but mind you don't touch anything," he said.

"We'll keep our hands to ourselves," Edison said.

The man opened the door all the way and stepped back. They walked inside and looked around. The interior was dimly lit with lamps with heavy shades on them. There were wires snaking along the top of the walls, held in place with staplers. On the walls were a couple of pictures, one was of Einstein, one was Stephen Hawking and another was an elderly man they couldn't identify. There was a television set in the corner of the room that was turned to a wrestling match and several computers were scattered around the room, all of them old and outdated. Across from the TV was an old battered leather sofa that had two tomcats lounging on it. Next to it was an old la-z-boy recliner that had stuffing poking out from various holes. A table next to it had magazines piled on it. Underneath they could see a couple of game systems including what looked like an old Xbox. The man shooed the cats off the sofa and gestured to it.

"Some of you can have a seat," he said to them. "Can I get ya somethin' to drink? Beer, Carbocola?"

They shook their heads. The man sat in the la-z-boy while Edison perched on the end of the sofa. The Doctor and Alan let their wives sit while they stood beside them. The others stood nearby glancing around the room.

"Sorry to be so rude, but you never know these days," the man said to Edison. "Name's Sam."

Everyone introduced themselves and he nodded his head before turning his attention back to Edison.

"So, my friend didn't come through for ya, eh?" he said.

"No, he either got it wrong or they were tipped off before we got there. All we found is one teenage girl who had been drained of all her memories," Edison said.

"Ah, shame, too young to have that happen to her," Sam said, shaking his head. "I doubt she's a blank then. We've been keeping an eye on each other and I ain't heard tell of a teen goin' missin'."

"How many blanks have gone missing?" the Doctor asked.

"Not many that I know of. We're a lot smarter than that. We keep to ourselves. Besides most blanks spend their time in their houses. Most of them got snatched off the streets, so I heard tell."

"And that's where your friend got taken?" Jack asked.

He nodded.

"Yeah, he had to go downtown to get a couple of parts, computer went on the fritz. Told me he was walking along minding his own business and someone came along, knocked him out and dragged him into an alley. When he woke up he was lying in bed in a white room with no windows and wearing a white gown. One of the other members tried to feed him and then practically shoved it down his throat when he wouldn't do it. The food must have had a sedative in it because he was drowsy when they finally took him to see the leader."

Everyone perked up at that.

"Did he see his face?" Edison said.

"No, he was hidden behind a heavy white screen, one of those folding screens like they have in Japan. The lights were dimmed way down low and he wasn't able to see anything. The man spoke to him in this low gruff voice, he said. Told him he was now a disciple of the church and he had to obey him or else. He tried to get away but they knocked him out and he woke up back in the room again. But he said he managed to overpower the guard watching over him and run out the door before they could nab him. Ran all the way back here and now he's in hiding with a friend of his."

"Did he know where he was being held?" Edison asked.

"If he does, he didn't tell me. He wasn't too keen on talkin' 'bout it. I tried to get him to say more but that's all he would say before he clammed up. I think he's afraid he's being watched and he might be killed if he tells too much. Can't say I blame em."

"Will he talk to us?" Edison said.

"Hard to say. Why do you wanna talk to em though? Are you wanting to interview him for ya news show?"

"No, we wanna shut this Cyber Messiah down for good and rescue the people he's enslaved," the Doctor said.

"Just you guys?" Sam said, gesturing around at them. "You're gonna do what the Metro Cops and everyone else have been unable to do and stop this cyber cult?"

"Yup," the Doctor said.

Sam chuckled.

"Well, good luck to ya, just watch you don't end up captured along with the others. Listen; let me talk to my friend, alright? Let him know you wanna talk to him and then he can decide."

They nodded and he got up and walked over to a computer at the back of the room. Sam activated the vid phone while they watched him. He tried to block the monitor from their view but the Doctor caught a glimpse of a young twenty something man who had short hair that was dyed purple. They were muttering to each other, trying not to be heard but the Doctor and his family could hear them with their sensitive hearing.

"Thomas, Edison Carter from Network 23 and some others are here, they wanna talk to you," Sam was muttering to him. "Carter says it's not an interview for his news show, they just wanna talk to you about the cult. They wanna know if they can come and see ya. Should I send them your way?"

"Who are these others?" Thomas muttered back.

"Dunno, never seen em before. Four men and six women, all of them clean with new clothes, they're not homeless and I don't think they're blanks. They claim they're gonna try to bring down the cult and they need your help to do it."

"What can they do?"

"Dunno, I'm not gonna ask too many questions just in case they do get caught. It's your call though."

The Doctor heard a long silence from him and for a moment he thought he was gonna refuse, but then he heard Thomas let out a heavy sigh.

"Yes but tell em to keep it brief. I don't want Edison Carter here attracting unwanted attention."

The Doctor glanced at his family and saw they heard it too. Sam nodded, said goodbye and ended the call. He swiveled around in his chair and looked at them.

"My friend will talk to you but keep it brief," he said.

Edison smiled and nodded and the others kept a poker face while they did the same thing.

"His name's Thomas," he said, turning back around and reaching for a pad and pen. "I'll write down directions to the place he's stayin' at, but see you keep it to yourselves."

"We will," Edison said. "And thanks."

He snorted.

"Don't thank me, thank him. He's the one who's agreein' to this, I'm just the messenger boy," he said.

He finished writing out the directions and handed it to Edison.

"Brief, ya hear? Don't attract attention to yourselves," Sam said to him.

"You got it. We'll be in and out and nary a soul will know," Edison replied.

Sam narrowed his eyes and for a moment the others thought Sam was gonna deck him but he finally let out a sigh and pointed to the door.

"Get out of here, I got things to do," he said to them.

Edison nodded and gestured for the others to go. The Doctor and Alan took their wives hands and they went outside with the others. While they stood there, they heard someone calling to them and saw Max on a TV several feet away grinning at them.

"Taking a pleasant s-s-stroll through B-B-Blankville?" he said to them.

Looking at him, Donna suddenly had a thought. She gestured for the others to follow her and she walked up to him.

"Hey! You can go to any computer screen, yeah?" she said.

"Any monitor actually, but y-y-yes."

"Can you do us a favor? Can you go and find this cult? See what building it's in?"

The others beamed at her.

_Good thinking, Donna,_ the Doctor thought to her.

_Yeah, well, I keep telling ya I have my moments,_ she thought back.

"You want me to g-g-go into the most dangerous c-c-cult in the world and report back to you?" Max said.

"Yeah," Awinita said, "like a spy."

By this time Edison had joined them and the Doctor filled him in on what Donna had said to Max.

"Good idea, but I would hold off until we talk to Thomas otherwise he's gonna be jumping monitors at random and it might take him forever to get through all the ones in the city," Edison said.

"Donna, you hear that?" the Doctor said.

She nodded.

"On second thought, just wait, Max, till we get done talking to Thomas."

"I s-s-shall wait with baited b-breath!" he said.

Edison beckoned to them and they walked off while Max began to jump screens and follow them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Unlike Sam's little shack, the building Thomas was staying in was a large office building. The windows were boarded up and it looked abandoned. Even Edison was confused since he kept looking down at the directions and looking around at the landmarks around it.

"Are you sure you got the right place?" Jack asked.

"According to this, I do."

"What if he did this to keep us from seeing his friend?" Dex said. "They just pretended to let us come see him but led us here instead."

"Wait a minute, I'll have Theora check this building out before we go inside," Edison said.

He sat his camera down, reached into the pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a flesh colored comm device. He slipped it deep into his right ear and turned it on.

"Theora, we're at an abandoned building out by the old Zytex factory. Probably about…a half mile from it to the east. Reg's friend claims the source is in here but it looks deserted, can you check the layout for us before we go in?"

"On it now, Edison."

"Thanks, control."

"Is it a three story square building?" Theora asked.

"Yes."

"Well, according to this, it used to be the location of Greer's Biolabs before they moved. It's been abandoned for about four years now."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean blanks and homeless people aren't occupying it."

The Doctor and the others watched while he turned and walked up to them. He lowered his voice.

"I'm gonna turn the camera on and hopefully, Thomas, our contact, won't notice. I want you to keep an eye on us in there and listen through the comm, just in case."

"Understood."

Edison picked up his camera, turned it on and sighed when he saw the red light on top wink on.

"I hope Thomas won't know what the red light means," he muttered to them.

They walked towards the building.

"Okay, control, we're goin' in," he said.

"Okay, as soon as you're inside, you'll be in a lobby. There's a lift down the corridor and a door off to the right that leads to the stairs. Your choice."

"Well, considering we don't know where the guy is living in here, we better take the stairs first," Edison muttered to her.

Keeping his camera aimed at the door, they walked up to it. It wasn't boarded up but most of the glass had been broken and there was shattered glass on the floor just inside. They stepped gingerly on it and went through the inner doors into the lobby. It was dark and silent inside. Narrow shafts of light fell through the cracks in the boarded up windows giving the room an eerie feel to it. Rose glanced at a nearby window, saw dust floating in the sunbeam and smiled when she briefly thought of the Vashta Nerada. She squeezed her husband's hand and he squeezed back while he looked around. The only furniture in the lobby was a few dirty and dusty leather couches that had been ripped and had urine and blood stains on it. The Doctor noticed the blood stains and became more vigilant while they moved further inside. Edison held up his hand and they stopped.

"Hello?" he called out.

The Doctor glanced around.

_I don't like this,_ he thought to his family._ Stay close together and keep your eyes open._

_You think this is a trap, Brother?_ Alan thought.

_I don't know. Sure seems like one. 1200 years of living, I've learned not to rule out anything,_ he thought back.

All of them jumped when the metal door leading to the stairs swung open and a man glared at them. Edison quickly swung his camera back around behind him to hide the red light.

"Carter?" the man said.

"Yes."

The man's gaze swept over the others. He was tall and thin with long black hair with blue highlights that hung down his back in a ponytail. He had on a pair of granny glasses and a nose stud in his right nostril. His eyes were slightly glazed and the Doctor guessed he'd been drinking or doing some kind of drug which made him even more wary.

"I'm Thomas's friend, Eron. I'm here to escort you up to his room. Follow me."

Edison glanced at the others and they followed him through the door and went upstairs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They stopped at the second floor and Eron led them to the end of the corridor. There were closed doors on either side and they could hear people talking and yelling behind some of them. The whole building was dusty and musty and they switched to their respiratory bypass systems to keep from coughing.

Eron led them around the corner. They sidestepped to avoid a drunken man who was slumped on the floor beside a door. The Doctor glanced at him, at first thinking he was dead but he saw his chest rise and fall and he let out a cough. He shared a glance with his wife who shook her head sadly.

Finally they stopped at a door halfway down the corridor. Eron knocked on it.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Thomas; I brought Edison Carter and his friends to see you."

They heard the deadbolt turn and Thomas opened the door. He glanced at Edison and the others and grunted while he opened the door wider.

"Remember, keep it brief," Eron said to them.

They nodded and stepped inside the room.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

All of them crowded into the tiny room. It had once been someone's office but Thomas or someone else had knocked a crude hole in the left wall making another room for him. The room was cluttered with old and second hand furniture taking up most of the space. But it was a lot cleaner than Sam's house and unlike him; Thomas only had one old PC sitting on a computer desk by the door. It was turned on and had an old Microsoft pipe screensaver running.

"Make yourself comfortable," he said to them. "I'm gonna have a beer. I would offer you some but I'm running low. But I do have chilled water."

Everyone politely declined and he walked through the hole. While he was gone, Edison set his camera on the floor, took off his trench coat and draped it on top so it was covering the red light. The others pressed up against the walls so Theora had a clear shot of the room. Awinita was up against the computer desk with her hands in her pockets.

"Find anything y-y-yet?"

She jerked her head around and saw Max was on the screen smiling at her.

"No," she whispered.

Everyone looked in her direction and Edison groaned.

"Max, get off the screen before he sees you," he muttered under his breath.

Max shrugged and left. Edison rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath about how one day Max was gonna get him killed. Just then, Thomas came back through the "door" opening his beer. He settled down into a chair and gestured to the other furniture.

"You can have a seat, my couch and chairs won't bite ya," he said.

Edison walked to the couch nearest him. The Doctor glanced at Rain and gestured to it.

"No thanks, I'm fine, Love," she said.

Alan glanced at Rose who shook her head. Mingxia glanced at Jenny and both of them sat when no one else moved.

"So, Eron says you want to talk to me about the cult?" he said to Edison after taking a sip of beer.

"Yes, we're trying to find it so we can stop it," Edison said.

Thomas glanced around at everyone. His eyes settled on Awinita for a moment and he gave her a wink before he turned his attention back to Edison.

_Well, well,_ Alan thought to everyone, _purply doo apparently fancies Awinita._

_I'm sure he does that with everyone, _Awinita thought back.

_Well gee, Te'lesu, there are five other women in this room and he didn't wink at them, _Alan said, flashing her an amused grin.

_He's not my type. I don't go for punkers,_ Awinita thought.

They listened while Edison talked to Thomas. So far he hadn't said much, being hesitant to talk about his experiences. Edison tried to get him to tell him the location of the cult but he claimed not to know saying he had been knocked out and taken there and when he left it was a moonless night, which he added was what allowed him to slip away unnoticed.

"But how did you get back?" Edison said.

"I managed to find a phone and bummed a few credits off a man and I called Eron to come and get me."

"And did you tell Eron where you were at?" Edison said.

"No, I don't know where I was at."

"The direction you came from, any landmarks you ran past. Surely there were some. It couldn't have all been barren land with no buildings and trees around."

"Look, Carter, I'm sorry but I was in a panic when I left there. I wanted to get the hell away from that place as fast as I could. That was my first priority, not memorizing every single building and tree stump along the way."

"What direction did you come from?"

"North."

"Okay, I'll drive you north then and maybe you'll be able to recognize something that was around the cult…"

"No, no way!"

Edison was taken aback.

"What? Why?"

"I agreed to talk, Edison, not get driven back out there where I could possibly get caught again."

"Fine, I have a couple of friends in the police department who could accompany us and…"

"No, I said. I'm not risking it. I'm pretty sure they're watching me now and I'm not about to risk going back there."

The Doctor couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"And yet you can sit by and let innocent people suffer," he said angrily.

"I'm sorry, I feel for them I really do but if it's gotta come down to me or them; I'm choosin' me, alright?"

The others felt the Doctor's rage flair up in their minds and Rain put her hand on his back to try to calm him down before he started screaming at him. The Doctor took a deep breath and composed himself while the man glared at him.

"And…" the Doctor said in a cold tone of voice, "if others die or become mindless because you failed to act, are you willing to live with yourself then?"

"Look, I don't know who you are, buddy, but I invited you here when I didn't have to do it and I don't appreciate you talking to me like that. Judging from your clothes, you live in the city which means you don't know what it's like living here in the fringes, doing whatever you can to survive day to day. I'm sorry those people are in there but I have a right to think about myself and if I'm the one who was clever enough to get out when they couldn't, well, that's a shame but that's the way life is. You know what; I think I'm done now. Get out!"

_Damn it,_ the Doctor thought_, me and my big gob. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut. _

_No, Doctor,_ Rose thought. _You were right to be angry. Besides he wasn't gonna tell us anything anyway. It was a huge waste of time coming here._

They thanked him for his time and Edison picked up his camera and coat. Guilt pricked at the Doctor's mind while they walked out. He knew he sometimes had a problem with running his mouth before his brain was fully in gear, but Rose was right, he could see they were gonna get nowhere with the man who was obviously more interested in self preservation than in helping others, still there was that "what if?" game that he began to play with himself. Rain glanced up at her husband, saw the guilt and took his hand while she threw up a privacy block.

_Thete, love, don't do this,_ she implored. _Don't start beating yourself up over what you said. _

_Latara, I ran my mouth when I shouldn't have. I should have kept it shut._

_If you hadn't done it, others would have. I saw Jack. He was about to say something too before you beat him to it. I was thinking exactly what you said and I'm sure everyone else was too. _

Edison came outside, closed the door behind him and beckoned for them to follow him.

_We weren't gonna learn anything from him, _Rain thought to him._ So it really didn't matter if you spoke up or not because I think he was about ready to boot us out anyway. _

_I just hope I didn't ruin our chances of finding the other cult members. I'm sorry, love, I know I shouldn't feel guilty but lives are on the line and I want them found before more people end up having their memories stripped away. _

Rain smiled and squeezed his hand.

_We will find them, I have faith in that, _she thought to him.

The Doctor smiled and kissed the top of her head.

They opened the door to the stairwell and went down.

"Well, that was a humongous time waster," Edison said, briefly setting his camera down so he could put on his trench coat.

"Edison, I'm sorry for what I said," the Doctor said. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't be sorry, I was gonna say much the same thing, Doctor," he said to him. "Guy was a complete prick. Like I said, it was a time waster being there even if you hadn't spoken up. Don't worry about it."

While he picked up his camera and moved on, the Doctor glanced at Rain and saw her raised eyebrow.

_I know, I know, once again, you're right and I need to listen to you more,_ he thought while she smiled and squeezed his hand.

He waited till they got away from the building before he spoke to Theora.

"Control, you get that pointless little interview?" he said to her.

"Yup, sorry Edison, I guess we'll have to try something else," she said.

He glanced at a TV screen and held up his hand. They stopped.

"Theora, Donna suggested sending Max out to try to find the cult. It's a long shot but I'm not sure what else we can do right now," he said to her.

"Well, it'll get him out of our hair for the moment," Theora said.

He grinned.

"My thoughts exactly."

He set his camera down and walked over to it.

"Max?" he yelled. "Come back, buddy, I need ya to go on that reconnaissance mission Donna was asking you to do."

The screen flashed and they saw a photo still of a library.

"Max! Get your ass over here, now!" Edison said annoyed.

"I'm in my b-b-barcalounger reading S-Shakespeare's sonnets right now. I'm comfy!" they heard him yell off-screen.

"If you don't get your computer generated butt in front of the screen right now I'm gonna go tell Bryce to release a really nasty virus into the system."

Max slid into the picture. He had on a pair of reading glasses and was giving Edison an annoyed look.

"You know, there are some of us who do enjoy r-r-reading a good novel novel," he said in a posh accent. "But you wouldn't know that, would you, Mister B-B-Barely Legal B-B-Brunettes?"

Everyone fought to keep from laughing when Edison turned a deep crimson.

"Max," he said through gritted teeth. "Get going and try to find that cult before I find a way to reach through the screen and strangle you!"

He sighed when the screen went black.

"Urgh! One of these days I'm gonna get back at Bryce for creating him from me," he said, grabbing his camera.

_Hmm,_ the Doctor thought to Rain. _Dare I make an I know how you feel comment_?

Rain giggled and glanced at Alan who was eyeing him.

_I am not as bad as Max, Brother,_ Alan thought to him.

Rain couldn't hold it in anymore and bent over laughing when the Doctor looked at him with eyes so wide they nearly popped from his skull. Edison noticed the look and everyone laughing.

"What? What is it?" he asked them.

The Doctor explained what they had just said. Edison gave Alan an amused grin and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I don't think you're as bad as Max. I don't think anyone is. Besides I'd rather have a flesh and blood version of myself than computer generated any day. At least with flesh and blood I can see more than the upper torso and head."

He checked his watch.

"I think we should call it a day and start the search again tomorrow. If you want, you're welcome to stay in my apartment. I only have one bed but I have extra sheets and blankets and it's a very spacious penthouse so there'll be plenty of room for all of you. And Theora agreed to come with me to dinner so let me take all of you with us, my treat."

They thanked him and he smiled and shrugged.

"No problem. If there are others, Theora might not think it's an actual date."

"And is it?" Alan said.

"Weeeeell, I like to think it is but…I'm not so sure about her. I think she likes me but I think she's wary of dating coworkers. But…hey, here's hopin', right? Anyway, it'll give you guys a chance to explain things to her so she won't be sitting there wondering why a bunch of blanks are following me around and won't go home. So follow me, just gotta check in with Murr and remind her of the dinner date and I'll take you to a lovely steakhouse I know."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Theora sat in a stunned silence while the Doctor explained themselves to her. They were at a long table in a private room in one of the ritziest restaurants in all of New York. Every so often Theora kept looking at Edison who would nod encouragingly. When he was finished speaking, Theora took a sip of wine while she mulled it over. She looked at Edison.

"It's true, Theora, he took me and Bryce to see this TARDIS earlier today and I heard his heartbeat. He's got two of them. But what he's told you, you can't tell anyone else."

"Who would I tell, Edison? I'd be sectioned if I told anyone," Theora said to him.

"Well, just so you know it's a secret between you and me and Bryce…and Max."

Theora took another sip of wine.

"So this friend, this Mark Patterson chap, why is he hiding then?" she asked them.

Dex glanced at his father.

"That's… my fault. I used to be angry at my father, long story, but when Gallifrey was going to be destroyed, I convinced six of my friends to come with me and hide throughout time and space and use the chameleon arch to turn ourselves human and forget about our Time Lord lives. Nelak is the first of the six that we're looking for and he is here, at least he's here on Earth if he's alive. I was the only one who had a TARDIS and since mankind hasn't colonized other worlds yet he won't be anywhere except here."

"But if he's living under an assumed name and can't remember his other one," Theora said, "then he must be dead or a blank since I didn't find anyone matching your description."

"Unless…" Edison said, "unless he's dyed his hair or had a face lift or maybe had an accident and has damage to his face. You gave us a description of him as you remember him but it was how long ago that you dropped him off here?"

"18 years ago," Dex said.

"Okay, well a lot can happen in 18 years," Edison said. "Shouldn't you try some of the Mark Pattersons that closely resemble your description and see if you get lucky that way?"

Dex shrugged.

"It wouldn't hurt to do that," he said. "I don't know what else we can do if he's not registered anywhere. Earth is a huge place and so far, I've only lived in Georgia and visited London, Arizona and now New York. The Earth is more Father's area of expertise."

"Well, nice to know I'm the resident Earth expert here," the Doctor said while they laughed. "You might as well try it, Son. I really can't think of anything else right now and unless Max happens to get lucky, our options are very limited."

He glanced over when Awinita got up from her seat.

"Where are you off to?" he asked her.

They giggled when she shot him a look.

"I gotta pee, is that alright with you, Bro?"

"Just keeping tabs on you, is all."

They laughed harder when Awinita raised her eyebrow. She walked around the table to the spot where he was sitting, bent over, wrapped her arms around his neck and put her lips to his ear.

"I'm going to the toilet or as you like to call it, the loo, is that fine and dandy with ya, Nosy?"

"Yes and use a minimal amount of toilet paper or as I like to call it, disposable biodegradable hygienic loo tissue, and please be sure to lather your hands well after you finish wiping your anal region and use a generous amount of anti-bacterial foaming soap on them. Rub the hands well for thirty seconds covering every area of your epidermis to prevent transmission of harmful bacteria and germs and…"

"Alright, smart ass," she said while everyone laughed, "I get the idea. I'll be back in a minute."

He patted her arm and she let go and walked out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Awinita settled down on the toilet and let out a sigh while she relieved herself.

_Are you wiping your anal region and using the soap yet?_ The Doctor thought to her.

_Buzz off, Bro!_ She thought back while the others laughed in her mind.

She grinned when the Doctor sent love into her mind and she sent it back.

While she peed, she heard someone come in and get in one of the other stalls. She finished peeing and wiped herself. Flushing the toilet she came out and began to wash her hands.

_I'm using the soap now, Bro,_ she thought with a smile.

_Excellent, now remember to lather them for thirty seconds to kill the transmission of germs and…_

Awinita didn't hear the end of the Doctor's thought because the other person rushed out of the stall and clubbed her on the back of the head while her head was down, knocking her unconscious.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Edison and Theora's eyes widened when everyone at the table let out a collective gasp and stared at each other in horror.

"What is it?" Edison asked.

They sat, stunned, while everyone else suddenly leapt up and ran out of the room. They looked at each other and quickly followed them. They left the room just in time to see them standing around a shocked waiter asking where the women's restroom was.

"It's over near the front door, just off to the right of it," he said to them.

Everyone in the restaurant stared at them in shock and Edison and Theora followed their friends while they sprinted for the front.

Once they got there, the women ran inside while the men stood anxiously at the entrance. Edison ran up to them with Theora right behind him.

"What is it? What's going on?" Edison said.

"Awinita, something's happened to her," the Doctor said. "Her mind just cut out in ours."

Rose ran back out and shook her head.

"No one's in there," she said.

The men cursed and quickly ran outside while the rest of the women came out behind Rose.

"Are you sure something's happened?" Theora said.

They nodded.

"Believe me," Rose said. "We're trying to contact her telepathically and she's not responding."

The manager walked up followed by the waiter.

"Is something wrong?" the manager said.

"Sir, our sister is missing," Rain said. "She went to the bathroom and she's not in there now. Something's happened to her."

"Are you sure, Madam?" the manager said.

The women nodded.

The manager looked at the waiter.

"Summon the police, now!" he said to him.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

For the next hour, the Metro Cops questioned the Doctor and his family about the disappearance of Awinita and searched the area for any sign of her. Edison was thankful that he had the presence of mind to tell Bryce to give them ident numbers since that was the first thing they checked for and once they had them, they treated them well since they were under the impression they were well off and not troublemaking blanks. Edison hoped that meant they would be sympathetic to his friends and help them find Awinita. After an hour, there was still no sign of her and no eyewitnesses to the abduction since the restroom was up near the door and far away from the tables. He could see how distraught his friends were but he finally gently urged them to come back to his penthouse and they reluctantly agreed.

"I'll come with you, Edison," Theora whispered while they walked out of the restaurant. "I have a feeling it's gonna be a long night for everyone."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Is she here?"

"Yes, Lord, the woman has been brought here. She was with Carter. She was taken from a restaurant when she separated from the others to go to the restroom."

"Excellent. Perhaps Edison will learn not to interfere in my business when he finds this child out in the open with her mind wiped clean. Is she still sedated?"

"Yes, Lord."

"Show her to me."

"This way, Lord."

The man led him down a hallway, opened a door and ushered the Cyber Messiah into a room. The Cyber Messiah was wearing a long white, heavy robe with a cowl over his face. Sewn into the cowl was a black mesh cloth that was tied to the top of the robe under his chin. It completely obscured his face but allowed him to see his captive. Around his waist was a leather belt with a large pouch at his side. He stared down at Awinita. She was lying on the bed under the covers, wearing a white gown. An IV drip in her arm kept her in a temporary medically induced coma. The Cyber Messiah neared closer to her and then suddenly stopped. His disciple frowned.

"Lord, what is it?" he said.

"This child was with Carter?" he said, looking at him.

"Yes, Lord. Why?"

"She is special."

"Special, my Lord? How?"

"She has energy radiating around her. An energy that is only found in one place in the universe. Bring me the trolley with the medical equipment on it."

"Yes, my Lord," the disciple said.

He hurried away while the Cyber Messiah raised a white gloved hand and stroked Awinita's hair.

"So, Ka Faraq Gatri has come searching for the lost one, has he? Well, if this child is one of his allies, she can be used to ensure his surrender and then I shall have him for my own."

The disciple hurried back in with a metal trolley heaped with medical instruments.

"Excellent, my disciple. Now, I need you to do something for me. Go to my personal chambers. There is a control panel there, activate the black button on the lower right hand side for me."

"Yes, my Lord."

"He hurried away while the Cyber Messiah picked up a stethoscope. He untied the cloth and reached up under it while he put the ear buds in his ears. He uncovered Awinita exposing her chest and listened to her heartbeat. His eyes widened in surprise when he heard the steady double beat of her hearts.

"Well, you are far more than just an ordinary human, aren't you, my lovely?" he said, stroking her hair. "You are like him. Interesting. A Time Lady survived the Time War. This is more than I could ever hope for. I'm glad I thought to activate the damper then. I don't want Ka Faraq Gatri finding you too quickly."

He put the stethoscope down and tied the cloth back.

"Perhaps I need to do a mind probe on you, my child, to find out what you have seen in your travels with him."

He looked over when he saw his disciple entering the room.

"I have done as you asked, Lord," the disciple said.

"Excellent and now I have a question for you, my devoted servant."

"Yes, my Lord?"

"How many were with Carter in the restaurant?"

"Um…besides Carter, there were four men and seven women, my Lord."

"Four men, eh?"

He reached into his pouch and brought out a folded piece of yellowed paper.

"This was a sketch that came into my possession several years ago. It is the face of Ka Faraq Gatri," he said, unfolding the paper. "Look at it and tell me if this man was among those four."

The disciple took the paper from him.

"Yes, Lord, there were two that looked like this."

The Cyber Messiah frowned.

"Two?"

"Yes, Lord, two men, twins."

"Twins? The Destroyer has a twin brother? I have never heard that mentioned in the legends before," he muttered. "Are you sure they looked like this man?"

"Yes, my Lord."

The Cyber Messiah took the paper from him, folded it and put it back in his pouch.

"This is getting more and more interesting. The legends spoke of him being the last of the Time Lords but it appears he is not. There are two more males and a female from his home world."

"Lord, who is he?"

"He is the scourge of the universe. A powerful force that many fear and tremble at but for me, he is a tool. A means to an end. When the lost one came into my possession, I hoped that perhaps he would discover him and come to his aid and it appears my hopes were not in vain. Not only has The Destroyer come but he has brought others like him. More tools that can be used by me. It is because of the lost one that we have the means to hide this one from his time ship's scanners and now with further probing, we can learn more about Time Lord technology and after I learn their secrets, I will become unstoppable!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Theora sighed sadly. After they walked back to Edison's apartment, she had tried to fix them and their new friends some tea to comfort them a little but the Doctor and the others were consumed with grief and worry for Awinita. They sipped the tea but for the most part they were holding one another and trying to keep each other's hopes up that way. The Doctor had mentioned to her that they all communicated telepathically and she figured they were doing that now since she kept seeing them glance at each other and nod from time to time. Looking at that, she felt envious that they could do that since she was curious to know what they were saying.

The silence dragged on. Edison joined her in his kitchen and they talked to one another while they tried to come up with strategies of their own. Occasionally, they both looked into the other room to check if they were still awake since there was a profound silence. At length, Theora decided she had to bring up the unpleasant topic of body banks to them. She explained what she was going to do to Edison who decided to go out and get some Chinese takeout in order to have something to do. He grabbed his keys from the counter and after telling everyone what he was going to do, hurried out the door. Once he was gone, Theora came in with her cup of tea and sat in a chair beside them while they all sat together on the floor looking dejected. She cleared her throat and they looked up at her. Her heart went out to them when she saw the anguish on their faces and she dreaded what she was about to tell them since she knew it was upset them more but it had to be done, if only to rule out the possibility.

"I…I want to tell you this because I want to check something but only because I want to rule it out at the moment. After Edison hit the barrier arm and was abducted, I had no idea where he went. I tried everything I could think of, the Metro Cops, the hospital and…the body bank. Do you know what the body bank is?"

They all shook their heads.

"The body bank is a place where people can either take corpses and body parts to sell for quick credits or buy corpses and body parts. Now it's supposed to be a legitimate way to buy and sell corpses and body parts but of course, there are those who kill people and dump them in there to get rid of them."

She could tell from the looks on her friend's faces that they already guessed what she was getting at. But she forced herself to go on.

"When Edison was abducted and they created Max, they tried to get rid of him afterwards so they took him to the body bank when he was still in a coma and passed him off as a corpse and sold him. Edison woke up…just when one of the workers was about to cut him apart so they could sell him piece by piece."

She held up her hand when she heard all of them gasp.

"I'm not saying that was done to Awinita, alright? But I wanna check. They check them in either by ident number or they just register them as blank does, but if she is a blank doe they'll have her photo on file. I'm not trying to cause you any more anguish. I'm just warning you that if I do find her at the body bank, chances are she might not be as lucky as Edison was."

Her heart ached when she watched all of them hugging and kissing each other. She took the opportunity to go over to Edison's computer that was near his couch.

"Theora?"

Theora turned to Rain who was sitting by the Doctor while he rubbed her back.

"If…"

She swallowed hard while the Doctor kissed her cheek.

"If…she is in this body bank, will they let us have her back?" she managed to get out.

"Yes, they will. For a price, but I'll handle that, don't worry. If, God forbid, she is in there, I'm not about to let her be taken apart and sold."

"Thank you," Rain said.

They watched while Theora sat down in front of the computer and accessed the vid phone. She hit the operator option and a young and very bored looking woman appeared on her screen.

"Number or name?" she said.

"Yes, I need Nightingale's Body Bank," Theora said.

"Connecting you now, wait a moment," she said, pushing a button off screen.

The screen went blank and Theora flinched when the same old woman she had talked to when Edison had gone missing appeared.

"Nightingale's Body Bank, may I help you?" she said, staring at her.

"Yes, I'm inquiring if a body has arrived in the past few hours. A female named Awinita…"

She glanced at the Doctor.

"Harris," the Doctor said.

"Harris," Theora said to the lady, "Awinita Harris."

"No, we've had no one come in by that name."

"Okay, how about a female…"

She looked at the Doctor.

"Forgive me for asking, is Awinita Hispanic?"

"No, Native American," the Doctor said.

She nodded.

"She's a young Native American female, about 5 foot 7 inches, light brown skin, brown eyes, long black hair."

"No ma'am, we've had no one fitting that description come in tonight."

The Doctor and his family breathed a sigh of relief.

"And no body parts fitting her skin color?"

"No ma'am. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, that'll be all, thanks. Goodnight."

"Thank God," Rose murmured when Theora cut off transmission.

Theora placed another call while they listened.

"New York County General," a man said.

"Yes, I have a friend who's missing and I'm checking to see if she might have been brought into hospital earlier tonight?"

"Name?" the man said.

"Awinita Harris."

"Ident number?"

Theora frowned. The Doctor got up and pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket that Bryce had run off for them. He handed it to her and she glanced at the ident code under Awinita's name.

"Her ident code is 16984-BZ-5429HH" she read to him.

She smiled and handed the paper back to the Doctor while the man checked the records.

"No ma'am, we've had no one checked in under that ident code," the man said.

"Have you admitted any female blank does tonight?"

"No ma'am."

They all breathed another sigh of relief.

"Thank you, goodnight," Theora said.

She cut off transmission.

"Well," she said to them, "for the moment, we can rule out the hospital and the body bank. Although, I suppose I better check the morgue as well."

She reached information and requested the number for the morgue. The Doctor watched while a stern looking receptionist answered when the woman operator connected her. She had a pinched face and her white hair was tied back in a bun.

"New York County Morgue, may I help you?"

"Yes, I'm trying to find out if a woman's body was brought in earlier tonight? Native American female, name of Awinita Harris, ident number 16984-BZ-5429HH, she could also have come in as a blank doe."

"No ma'am, no Native American females were brought in tonight. Can I help you with anything else?"

"No, thanks, goodnight."

She cut off transmission while the Doctor sat back down and gave relieved hugs to the women.

_I doubt if they'll kill her yet,_ the Doctor thought to them. _If they took her, they want her alive for something. I just hope wherever she is, she's unharmed._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Cyber Messiah sat in his chair and thought. He had left the Time Lady alone for the moment, letting her rest and recover from the blow to her head. He smiled to himself. He had kidnapped the female with the intention of silencing Carter and getting him off his back but instead he had found an even greater treasure and not only that, but Ka Faraq Gatri himself was here along with a possible twin brother. He had never considered the possibility that The Destroyer had a twin. He knew Time Lords were loomed one at a time but in a way it made sense to him. Ka Faraq Gatri was like no other Time Lord that had ever lived so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for him to have something no other Time Lord ever had. Perhaps the twin was a sign of his greatness. His power was so formidable that one body could not contain it. He smirked. It didn't matter though. Both would be his eventually along with the rest of them.

"But what of the rest?" he murmured. "Are they with Ka Faraq Gatri or Carter? I must know for sure how many allies The Destroyer has and if any of them are Time Lords and Ladies."

He summoned his disciple via an intercom system. A few minutes later, he appeared and knelt before the screen he sat behind.

"Yes, my Lord?"

The Cyber Messiah tied the cloth down and stepped out from behind the screen.

"I wish to send more spies to observe Carter and these newcomers. I want to know who are with Carter and who are with The Destroyer."

"And I'm to go and spy on them, my Lord?"

"No, you have already done it tonight. I can't risk you going back in case they saw your face at the restaurant. No, I will send another to do that. I want you to tend to the child. I'm going to ease up on the medication although I still want her partially drugged so she'll be too weak to fight back. I want to find out what she knows about Ka Faraq Gatri and why he has come here."

"Yes, my Lord."

"I want you to keep close watch on her and make sure she doesn't escape. See to her needs but be wary. Ka Faraq Gatri trains his companions well and I'm sure she'll be no different. Plus, she is a Time Lady which means she possesses intelligence far beyond a normal human's mind. The drugs I will give her will keep her confined to her bed but she will still be awake and capable of talking to us. But you will have to take her to the restroom and feed her, is that understood?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Good, go and take out the IV and let the child rest for awhile."

"Yes, my Lord."

He watched while his disciple went away to do his bidding. Once he was gone, he walked back behind the screen to his chair. He settled down in it and smiled when he reached over to the table beside him, grabbed the tiny silver fob watch and chuckled while he ran his fingers over it.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Edison returned about a half hour after Theora completed her calls. He was holding a large brown bag and had a Styrofoam cup in his other hand. He smiled at them.

"I got some Chinese food. I'll put it in the kitchen and all of you are welcome to it if you get hungry," he said.

They nodded and thanked him. He walked into the kitchen with Theora and set the bag on the counter.

"Any luck?" he said softly.

Theora shook her head while he ripped open the bag and took out an egg roll.

"No, tried the morgue, body bank and hospital. She's not in any of them. Which I guess is comforting but then again whoever kidnapped her could be doing anything to her right now."

Edison shook his head while he munched on his egg roll.

"I just hope they find her especially if she is an alien," he said. "I'd hate to see her end up in some lab being slit every which way. All of them are very friendly and they've offered their help when they didn't have to. I don't want to see Awinita's organs end up for sale on the black market somewhere."

Theora nodded.

"I agree but I'm at a loss right now. There's gotta be a reason she was taken and…"

She trailed off when Edison's eyes widened.

"Thomas," he muttered. "Maybe…Theora, you got a clear shot of his face today, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Can you run his face through police records? I suddenly have a funny feeling that he might be behind this. It seems too coincidental that we were over there questioning him and making him angry and suddenly Awinita disappears."

"Maybe someone really was watching him and took her to get you to leave him alone," Theora offered.

"Maybe but I'm not completely convinced of that. He was reluctant to talk to us and I'm not so sure the reason was because he was afraid of being killed. I don't think he got out of the cult unscathed. I'm willing to bet they did something to him. Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you could run a search for me."

"Course," Theora said.

He grinned.

"These are damn good eggrolls too, you need to try one," he said, smiling, while he held out his half eaten one.

"Not right now," she said.

He shrugged.

"Suit yourself," he said.

He followed Theora out of the kitchen and explained their theory to the others while she sat down in front of the computer. They let out angry sighs.

"We had that thought as well," the Doctor said. "He seemed very interested in her earlier. When he winked at her, we joked about it at the time but who knows he could have been sizing her up and targeting her and we took it for casual flirting."

"Well, it's a long shot, especially if he is a blank, but you never know, he could have just been impersonating one. It's something else to check and possibly rule out."

"She's been out for several hours now," the Doctor said. "I'm not going to say she's dead until we see the body in person and if she has been knocked out they must be keeping her heavily sedated, almost comatose, because we could feel her otherwise."

"And the moment she wakes up, you'll feel her again?" Edison asked.

"Yes, which is what we're waiting on. When she wakes up we'll feel it and then we can communicate with her telepathically. Hopefully she'll be able to give us details about where she's at," the Doctor said.

Theora shook her head.

"There's no match. He must be a blank," she said to him.

Edison cursed.

"Well, screw that then," Edison said.

He ran his hand through his hair.

"So apart from Max out searching monitors, there's nothing else we can do right now. I'm sorry, guys, but you might as well get some sleep. It won't do any good for you to stay up all night and worry and deplete all the energy you'll need to search for her."

"We don't sleep. Our kind survive on a short nap every two weeks or so. Even if Awinita hadn't gone missing we still would have spent the night awake because we don't need that much sleep to keep our energy levels up," the Doctor said.

"Energy…"

They all looked at Alan who had a wide eyed look.

"Love?" Rose said, putting a hand on his back.

"OH! WE HAVE BEEN SO THICK!" Alan yelled.

Everyone looked at him.

"What is it, Bro?" Rain said.

"The artron energy," he said.

Both Edison and Theora noticed the dawning comprehension on their faces.

"Oh! Brother, you're right, we are incredibly thick!" the Doctor said.

"What? What is this artron energy?" Edison said.

"Artron energy is this background radiation that exists in a TARDIS," the Doctor said. "If you travel in it, you soak it up. It's harmless but it permeates your body and it can be picked up if you have the right scanners, which we do. I can go to my TARDIS, run a scan and the energy around her body will show up even if she is knocked out. And since only people who travel in the TARDIS have the energy around them we'll know it's her. Ah! Brother, you are a genius!"

"Tell me something I don't know," he said, grinning.

The Doctor leapt to his feet along with Alan. Edison frowned.

"You're going now? It's dangerous going through the fringes at night," he said to the Doctor.

"Sod that, I don't care. I've handled worse than tramps and my sister is in danger. I'm not waiting."

"I'm going with you," Alan said.

"And me," Jack said, standing up. "Even if I don't shoot anyone I can still scare them away with my gun because let's face it, Doc, the sonic screwdriver isn't that menacing."

The Doctor sighed.

"Only as a last resort though, Harkness. I don't want the police to hear the gunshots, come running and throw us back in jail."

"Understood."

"You sure you'll be alright?" Edison asked.

The Doctor nodded.

"I have to risk it. I don't want Awinita hurt or killed because I waited till morning to scan for her energy signature. Although…if we can get to the TARDIS, I can move it inside here and save us a walk back."

"Will it fit? I mean the inside was huge."

"Yes, but the inside is in a completely different dimension. The police box part is the front door and it's the same dimensions as an ordinary phone box."

Edison looked around the room and pointing to an empty spot in the corner.

"You can put it there but are you guys really gonna carry that thing back?"

They chucked.

"No, I don't have to. It'll dematerialize and appear right in this room. No carrying necessary."

"Well, hurry back. It's still dangerous out there at night," Edison said.

"We will."

He and Alan gave their wives a quick kiss and the three of them hurried out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Awinita groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She tried to focus her vision but it was still a bit blurry. She frowned while she tried to get her fuzzy mind to work again.

"Hello?" she slurred out. "Is anybody there?"

She tried to reach out with her mind and sensed one other mind but to her dismay, it wasn't the minds of her family, this mind was unknown, which scared her. She tried again, tried to call to the Doctor telepathically but she got no response.

"Damn it," she muttered. "It's never easy when you travel around with Bro. Somehow, something always manages to happen. God, I hope you guys are alright. I have to get up and find them if they're in here."

"They're not, Awinita, so don't bother trying."

She jerked her head to the right when she heard someone in the room. She tried to focus her eyes while the person walked up to her. She couldn't see him clearly but she did see a purple blur where his hair was supposed to be and her stomach suddenly sank into her knees.

"Thomas," she slurred. "Shit, shoulda known. No one else had been able to escape from the cult so why should you be any different."

"No, you don't understand, Awinita," he said quickly.

"I understand you kidnapped me and I'm telling ya right now, you might as well start torturing me right now because I'm not telling you anything. And I swear to God, if you've harmed or killed my family…"

"They aren't here, alright? You're the only one out of all of them that's here. As far as I know, the others are alright."

"Then how come I can't feel them in my mind?"

"There's some kind of barrier that keeps you from feeling them."

Awinita sighed.

"Oh crap, not another damper. Then who is the person I can feel?"

Thomas frowned.

"I…I don't know."

"Well, I can feel someone and I have no idea who it is."

"I don't know who it is, sorry."

"So whoever's doing this knows what I am, I guess, since they've gone through the trouble of blocking my mind?"

"Yes, the Cyber Messiah doesn't want Ka Faraq Gatri to know about you yet."

"Who? Who the hell is Ka Faraq Gatri?"

"The Destroyer of Worlds?"

"Sorry, buddy, don't know any destroyer of worlds."

"The one you travel with. The Time Lord?"

"His name, for your information, is the Doctor, not The Destroyer of Worlds or Ka Faraq Gatri."

"Well, it's the truth, isn't it? He destroyed his own world and several others besides. He's the scourge of the universe?"

"No, he isn't. He saves planets, he doesn't destroy them. He destroyed Gallifrey because he was basically tricked into it by his own people who told him he didn't have a choice when he probably did. The Doctor is a kind, caring, loving individual but if you cross him or do things like kidnap me, you're gonna find him in your face really fast and believe me, you don't want that. So I suggest you let me go before he finds you and rings your scrawny neck!"

"I can't do that.

"I suggest you do before you live to regret it. Like I said, you don't wanna get on his bad side."

"Because he destroys worlds."

"No. He doesn't do that but he is very protective of me and he's not gonna be too happy that you drugged me up and he'll be even less happy if you do whatever it is you plan to do with me. So I would do what you did before, go back out the way you came and take me with you."

"That whole escape story was a lie."

"Yeah, well I figured that since you're standing here with me. We shoulda figured it out when you kept beating around the bush in your apartment. So what exactly are you going to do to me then?"

"I'm not going to do anything to you except take care of you."

Awinita frowned.

"Why?"

"The Cyber Messiah needs you alive for the moment."

"Why? Because I'm bait for the Doctor?"

"Yes. And he also wants information about him from you."

Awinita snorted.

"Tough shit, I'm not saying anything that'll jeopardize him. I love him and I'm not about to give him up to you and your little cult."

"Then the Cyber Messiah has no choice but to use the mind probe on you, Awinita," Thomas said gently.

"He can mind probe me until he's blue in the face, it won't work."

"Why not?"

Awinita gave him a smug grin.

"Several months ago this creature called a Skinwalker possessed my mind and tried to turn me into an assassin. After that happened and my mind was restored, a series of complicated barriers were put in my mind to prevent anyone from accessing my mind or controlling me. There are so many barriers in my mind that it's impenetrable. So, like I said, he or you or whoever can use mind probes on me all you like, you won't get anything and I won't talk."

"Then he'll torture you."

"Torture me then. I'm not afraid. I'd rather suffer and die than betray the Doctor. I assume eventually I'll be put to death anyway so you might as well get it over with now."

"Why would you die for someone else?"

"Because unlike you, I love others and care for them and I don't want to watch them suffer. The Doctor allowed me to travel with him and he trusts me completely and I will never betray that trust because I couldn't live with the shame otherwise. I really don't care about dying or being in pain, I've experienced the latter and come close to the former and it doesn't faze me anymore. But I will warn you, if you put me to death, you and this "Cyber Messiah" better start running for the hills because the Doctor will be after you and won't stop until you pay dearly for what you've done. So just a friendly word of warning, Thomas, from me to you."

"I'm not the enemy here, Awinita."

She snorted.

"Coulda fooled me. I notice you're not helping me up and out of the building which means you're with them and if this is the cult, you're the enemy."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I'm being watched, Awinita," he said getting down next to her ear. "And if I do anything, I'll end up dead. I was snatched off the street a couple of years ago and enslaved and I've been tortured and brainwashed, although that hasn't worked like they think it has. The Cyber Messiah singled me out to be his assistant which means I'm watched constantly everywhere I go and if he summons me, I gotta go and do what he says right at that moment or be punished. Don't you think I would have tried to escape by now?"

"What about your apartment?"

"That's not really mine. Eron isn't really my friend either. He's a cult member who, unlike me, has been brainwashed and he keeps watch over me along with a couple others. So if you're thinking I can just walk out of that building and not get killed, think again."

"So that's how you get new recruits? Lure them to your apartment?"

"No, it's a stopping place so we don't have to come back here when we need to take a break. But we knew sooner or later Edison would want to talk to me since I supposedly escaped the cult and the Cyber Messiah ordered me to go to the apartment on a daily basis and wait for him. Edison was allowed to go to my apartment because the Cyber Messiah wants him to back off and leave him alone. The plan was to abduct one of you and drain your brain as a warning to him but apparently the fact that you are allied with Ka Faraq Gatri saved your skin, for now."

"Don't call him that," Awinita hissed.

"Fine, the Doctor, sorry," Thomas muttered. "I followed you to the restaurant wearing a wig and beard and when I saw you going to the restroom, I followed. I waited till you were in the stall, came in, got in another stall and waited. Once your head was down I ran out and knocked you out. Then I took you outside to a van and brought you here. There was nothing special about you in particular, Awinita. You just made the mistake of going to the bathroom and separating from the others, allowing me to take you."

"Then why did you wink at me?"

He shrugged.

"Why wouldn't I wink at you? You're cute."

"Oh Jesus, my abductor is in love with me," Awinita muttered. "As if things couldn't get more bizarre."

"Look, I'm sorry, I really am. But at the moment, there's nothing I can do."

"So you're just content to be a slave then?"

Thomas sighed.

"Awinita, I have no choice! I keep telling you I'll die if they find out I'm rebelling against them. I've seen it. You know those people who got their brains drained? Those were people who tried to fight back and escape and now they're as good as dead. I admire your bravery and your loyalty to the Doctor, I really do, and I understand your wanting to protect him at all costs but how much good will you be to him with all your memories gone? If you cooperate, things will go easier on you and you won't suffer. I've been assigned to take care of you and I will. I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise. I don't wanna hurt you. I've seen too many people hurt and killed and you seem like a nice girl. Don't become a corpse or a vegetable because of your blind loyalty to one man."

Awinita tried to study his face through the drug induced haze.

"What will become of the Doctor if he's caught?" she asked.

"I don't know. The Cyber Messiah claims he's a tool, whatever that means. Supposedly, he has this other like him he calls the "lost one" and he figured the Doctor would come in search of him eventually."

Awinita's face was unreadable but her hearts were beating a mile a minute.

"You don't know what he means, do you?"

Awinita kept a poker face while she shook her head.

"We were just traveling and ended up here," she said. "I have no clue what he means by lost one."

"Well, supposedly, it's another Time Lord like the Doctor and you and I guess the Doctor's twin brother," Thomas said.

"Oh, well, we didn't know anything about it. We're just traveling like we always do," Awinita said, shrugging.

"Well, all I know is I've never seen anyone like you. So if there is a "lost one" he has him hidden."

Awinita cursed inside her head. She cursed again wishing there wasn't a barrier between her and her family so she could let them know. She hoped wherever Nelak was, he was alright.

"Listen, do you need to go to the restroom? Are you hungry? I'm your caretaker so you might as well put me to work doing something."

Awinita thought.

"I'm not hungry but I do need to pee again," she said.

He nodded and grabbed her legs. He moved them until they were hanging over the edge and then he put his arm behind her back and helped her to sit up. He supported her when she stood up and helped her walk over to the restroom beside the door.

"Please just cooperate," he begged. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'll cooperate to some extent but I'm not telling them anything vital about the Doctor. Like I said, they can mind probe me all they want. I'm not about to let the Cyber Messiah use him as a tool or whatever he has in mind for him."

Thomas sighed while he helped her sit on the toilet. He walked out and shut the door slightly folding his arms over his chest while he waited for her to get done. He hadn't known Awinita for very long but he liked her. She seemed like a nice woman and he hated to think that the Cyber Messiah might torture her or do something worse if she resisted. He knew that he would be furious when he found out about the mental barriers and might try to penetrate through them with as much force as he could. He dreaded to think what that would be like on her.

"Okay, I'm done," Awinita said.

Thomas went back in slowly, just in case she found something to club him with. Awinita raised her eyebrow when she noticed his hesitation.

"I can't even see straight at the moment let alone knock you out," she said to him.

He relaxed, helped her up and helped her pull up her underpants. He helped her to the sink and after she washed her hands and dried them, he helped her back to bed. She lay back down and he pulled the covers up.

"Please, just trust me, alright?" he begged. "I know this might look like a trap or some scheme to get you to open up to me and talk about the Doctor but it's not. I'm sorry that I don't have the courage to resist but think about this, if I do resist right now and I end up dead, where will you be? You need me at the moment and until we can figure out a way to escape, it's best to just play along and behave, alright?"

Awinita nodded.

"Thank you. Now, get some rest. I'll be outside if you need me so just yell, alright?"

She nodded.

He smiled and went outside the room while Awinita sighed and reluctantly closed her eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

After an hour and a half, the three men made it back to the safety of the TARDIS. The Doctor glanced around; making sure no one was watching before taking his key out of his pocket and unlocking the door. They quickly went inside and closed it. Blizzard and Rory jumped off the jump seat and ran to them. The Doctor knelt down, quickly rubbed their sides while he said hello and then hurried to the console. Alan and Jack picked up the dogs and held them while they walked over. They stood behind him and watched while the Doctor turned on his monitor and started a search for Awinita's energy signature. Jack and Alan set the dogs down and commanded them to sit while they waited for a result. The first reading brought back two results. The TARDIS and the rest of the family in Edison's apartment. The Doctor frowned. He typed out a command to ignore both the TARDIS and the others in the apartment and tried again. The three men's eyes bulged when the readout came back negative.

"What?" the Doctor muttered.

He tried another scan and got the same negative readout. The three men looked at each other.

"She couldn't have been abducted by a UFO, could she?" Alan said.

The Doctor sighed.

"Worth a try. I'll scan for any artron signatures in the universe in this time period," he said.

They waited and once again, it came back negative.

"Okay," the Doctor said, frustrated, "any signatures anywhere in time and space."

He scanned again and got two matches. When he clicked on them, he growled when he noticed they were both on Volag Nok. He slammed his hand down on the rim.

"So the only thing the TARDIS is detecting is the Rani and her TARDIS," Alan said.

"Yes, which must mean…someone has a bloody damper again."

"Which means they know who you are," Jack said.

"Seems so. BLAST!"

He ran his hand through his hair.

"Dampers and I'm willing to bet barriers to keep us from reaching her mind. I would say it was the Rani except she's still on Volag Nok."

"What about this Nelak?" Jack said. "What if he's doing it?"

The Doctor frowned.

"He's human."

"What if he opened the watch before we got here though?" Jack countered. "If he's got Awinita somewhere where we can't detect her then it stands to reason he'd be shielded too and if he listened to your son and believed the same kind of bullshit he believed…"

The Doctor groaned.

"Lovely, we have another potential Time Lord basket case on our hands," the Doctor said. "And the whole brain drain thing wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for one. And we knew what Dex was capable of when he wasn't in his right mind…"

He looked at Jack.

"But how would he know we were coming?" he said. "Dex had no way to get in contact with him and there would be no need to shield his energy signature and mind if he were living among humans. Surely he hasn't been waiting 18 years for me to show up."

Jack shrugged.

"I'm just offering a theory, Doc. Seems the most plausible one to me right now. Like you said, Dex went off the deep end the moment the watch was opened and tried to kill the whole family. If these are his friends, I'm sure they were on his side and listened to his rants about how evil you were."

"As for the whole damping and shielding," Alan added. "Perhaps he is paranoid and thinks that someone from Gallifrey might still be out there ready to get him at any moment. I'm assuming all of them left and got settled before Gallifrey burned. Maybe he convinced himself that nothing happened and Gallifrey is still there and just set up defenses."

The Doctor nodded.

"Sounds more plausible than him waiting around for me to show up," he said. "Damn it, I guess now we have to deal with another insane man who'll need to be taken to the institution. Damn Sharina for doing this to my son. It was her idiotic vendetta against me that started all of this. I suppose the other five are the same way. Blast, finding them all is gonna be hell on all of us."

He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"But we can't worry about that now. Right now we have to get Awinita back safe and sound," he said.

He punched in the coordinates for Edison's apartment while Alan and Jack sat down behind him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Theora and Edison sat on his couch listening in an intrigued silence while the Doctor's family talked. They were telling them about Jenny and how she came to be. While Donna explained it, the others ate a bit of the Chinese food. Rain sat near her daughter sipping a bit of egg drop soup while they shared an egg roll, a bit of egg foo young and some pork fried rice. When Donna finished, Edison looked at Jenny.

"Quite an unusual way to be born," he said to her. "I think you beat Max in general all-around weirdness."

Jenny smiled.

"I don't know about that, having a computer version of yourself sounds much more weird," she replied.

She sighed.

"Speaking of, you think Max has found something yet?" she asked him.

"Not sure, I'm sure if he did he'd come back and tell us. The TVs and computers are always left on so he can always jump in whenever he wants."

Mingxia swallowed the egg drop soup in her mouth.

"You leave both on all night even when you go to bed? You must have one hell of an electric bill each month," she said.

Edison frowned.

"We can't turn them off. It's against the law. You go to jail if you have an off switch on your TV."

They stared at him in shock.

"Why? Is it different in 2009?" Edison said.

"Yes. In 2009 we can turn off the bloody TV and computer and not go to jail," Donna said.

"There's not all this Orwellian Big Brother camera watching either," Rain said. "At least not to the extent it is now and there's no worldwide ident number system and TV networks don't go worldwide either."

"What about governments?" Theora asked.

"There are many governments," Rain said, shrugging.

"Not here. There's one world government running everything," she said. "Everyone uses credits for the most part, there is cash but even that is one currency. Everyone is required to learn English along with their country's native language and like Edison said, TV networks are all broadcast worldwide."

"And you're number one out of all of them?" Mingxia said to Edison. "Impressive."

"Yeah but not many reporters are willing to dig deep and find out the truth so that's why people tend to watch me and also why I get targeted for death a lot. But hey, gotta die sometime, might as well die doing what you love and make a difference where you can."

They giggled when they heard the TARDIS wheezing and both Edison and Theora looked around in confusion.

"That's Dad," Jenny said to them while she pointed back to the corner.

They looked over and watched in stunned silence while the police box came into view and then shut off. The Doctor opened the door and looked out.

"Eating without me?" he said while he, Alan and Jack stepped out.

He closed the door and sighed.

"We didn't find her," he said sadly.

They stared at him.

"Didn't find her?" Donna said. "What'd ya mean, didn't find her?"

They explained what happened along with their theories. When they finished telling their theory about Nelak being insane, Dex lowered his head to his hands.

"Father, I'm sorry. It's that's what's happened, then I'm the one to blame and…"

"No, no, no Dex," the Doctor said, walking over to him. "Don't start blaming yourself or Rain is likely to jump down your throat the way she does with me. You were young when your mum told you that stuff and you had no reason to believe differently since I was gone all the time. We don't even know if that's what happened, it's just a theory so don't do this to yourself."

Dex nodded and the Doctor squeezed his shoulder.

"So, unless we get a lucky break, we really are relying on Max," Edison said.

"It seems so," the Doctor said, sighing. "Course we could be wrong about Awinita's mind being blocked and she's still unconscious but if this person has a damper then I'm willing to bet he has a mental barrier in place as well. As you said, we have done all we can do tonight and there's no sense in stressing out. That won't help Awinita. Um…now that the TARDIS is here, we can just go in and spend the night in there so you don't have this mess all over your floor. And…Theora, you wanna see inside?"

She nodded and the Doctor led her over and opened the TARDIS door. While he showed her inside, Alan sat down next to Rose and Jack sat beside him. Edison handed the rest of the Chinese food that was still in the bag to Rain and she passed it to Alan.

"I'll get you guys some bowls, plates and forks," he said, getting up. "Do you want something to drink? I got beer, soda, milk, orange juice."

They both opted for sodas and Edison went into the kitchen. Alan looked at Rain.

"Anything interesting happen while we were gone, Te'lesu?" he asked her.

"No, we've just been talking. I finally decided to have some egg drop soup to settle my stomach and then we all smelled the food and decided to go ahead and have a bit to eat," she said.

Alan reached over and rubbed her back.

"We'll find her, Rain. Don't worry," he said.

She nodded and sent love into his mind while he smiled. He opened the bag and he and Jack looked through it while Edison returned with the bowls, plates, forks and spoons. He gave them to Alan and went to get their drinks while the Doctor came back out with Theora and shut the TARDIS door. He sighed and went to sit down beside his wife while Theora went to talk to Edison.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Awinita tried to rest but it was no use. She wasn't worried about herself as much as she was her family. She didn't fully believe that they were safe. After all, she'd been knocked out. What if they had come running when they felt her mind cut out and Thomas got them too. Logically her mind argued back that if it had only been Thomas, there was no way he could get 10 people knocked out and into the van before someone noticed, but still…

_What if he had more than one person in the van?_ She thought to herself. _He had to have had help. Damn it, I wish I could know for sure. There's got to be some way to shut off the mind block so I can reach them._

She assessed her body. Thanks to her speeded up metabolism, the effects of the drug were wearing off quickly and she felt herself becoming more alert with each passing second. She opened her eyes and noticed that everything was clearer now although there was still a bit of fuzz around objects. She slowly sat up. Keeping her eyes on the door, she swung her legs around and sat for a moment to get her bearings. Once she felt ready, she slid off and stood up. She wobbled a moment and put her hand on the bed but the dizziness passed and she slowly made her way to the door. Switching to her respiratory bypass system, she stopped and put her hand on the doorknob and opened the door a crack. She didn't see anyone directly in front of the door so she opened it further and stepped out. Thomas was sitting on the floor on her left side. He jerked his head up, giving her a shocked look.

"Awini…"

She pinched a nerve in his neck the way the Doctor had showed her and was pleased when he immediately fell unconscious. She grabbed under his arms and pulled him back inside.

"Sorry, Thomas, but unlike you I do care about escaping from here," she muttered.

She let go when he was by the bed and hurried around him to the door. She peeked out and when she saw no one in the hallway, she rushed out, shut the door and hurried down the corridor looking all around her for any signs of life along with the nearest exit. Her hearts were beating so rapidly she was sure someone could hear them.

_Come on,_ she thought to herself, _where's the damn door in this place? _

She went down another corridor and noticed that no one was in it either. Red flags went off in her mind.

_Okay, where the hell is everyone? I don't like this,_ she thought to herself.

But she pressed on, knowing that she wouldn't get another chance like this to escape. She passed another corridor and stopped short when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of red. She backed up and saw an EXIT sign glowing red over a door at the end of the hallway. Looking all around, she sprinted to it. Not caring if there was an alarm on it, she grabbed the door handle and threw it wide open before running through. It slammed shut behind her and there was a momentarily sense of relief when no alarm sounded but it was replaced by confusion when she saw she was in a small windowless room instead of outside. The feeling of confusion then turned to elation when nine very familiar minds winked back into her head. She could feel her family's disbelief and then utter elation at being able to feel her again.

_Te'lesu!_ Alan thought. _Are you alright? Where are you?_

_I'm…in a room. A room with no furniture in it. They had me drugged in the main building and I managed to escape after the drug wore off and I found this exit door. I thought it led outside but now I'm in this room with no windows or other doors. _

_Are you alright? Did they hurt you while you were drugged? _The Doctor thought to her.

_No, I'm alright. But listen, Thomas is here, he's one of them. The Cyber Messiah still has him enslaved and he has Nelak somewhere. Thomas said the Cyber Messiah called Nelak the lost one and Doctor, he wants you. Thomas said the Cyber Messiah called you a tool but Thomas didn't say what that meant and…_

Her thought was suddenly cut off when a high-pitched piercing siren wailed through the room. Awinita's sensitive hearing made the wailing even more excruciating and she fell to her knees, screaming in agony while she clamped her hands over her ears.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Edison and Theora stared at their friends with wide eyes. They had been talking to them when suddenly they reported with relief that Awinita was back. Then they talked to her quietly in their minds, relieved grins spread over their faces. But suddenly, the joy turned to horror and anguish.

"What's wrong?" Edison said, concerned.

The Doctor looked at him.

"She's in pain, they're hurting her," he said, his eyes misting over.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The siren mercifully cut out after two minutes and Awinita slowly took her hands away from her ears. Even with her hands clamped over her ears, she still had a throbbing headache and she felt her family's distress. Mentally, she tried to reassure them she was alright but while she was doing that, the siren started again and she clamped her hands back over her ears. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to stand and take one hand away to open the door. She knew it meant she would be cut off from her family when she went back inside but she was sure if she didn't get out before long her eardrums would burst. She put her hand on the door handle and tried it but to her horror it wouldn't open. She staggered back, putting her hand back over her ear while she tried in vain to look for something that would bring her relief from the siren. The throbbing in her head was so intense that tears were streaming down her face and she wished fervently they hadn't taken her sonic screwdriver away.

She could hear the Doctor or Alan trying to talk to her but the pain in her head prevented her from concentrating enough to be able to hear them. She clamped her hands over her ears until she was sure she was gonna mash them into the sides of her head. While she suffered, she could feel her family's anguish and it hurt her hearts knowing they were indirectly suffering which she guessed was the intention of allowing her to come out here. She knew she should have trusted her first instinct when she didn't see anyone around but the urge to get away back to the safety of her loved ones overrode it. Worse still, there had been no windows inside the building and there were no windows in the room so she couldn't give them any clues of her location. Dimly, she could make out Jack mentally screaming at the Doctor or Alan to go into the TARDIS and check her artron energy signature and hope rose briefly inside her before it crashed down. Her captors weren't idiots. She had a feeling the damper was still on but she could picture the Doctor dashing into the TARDIS to check his monitor.

After five minutes the siren mercifully fell silent although there was still a ringing in her ears. She gasped with relief and managed to tell the others that the noise had stopped. Tears came to her eyes when she felt their love rushing into her mind followed by them telling her they loved her telepathically. Her hearts longed for them and the safety they provided and she suddenly saw the wisdom in Thomas's words. She felt sure that when someone came to get her there would be a severe punishment waiting. The siren was still off but she sensed she didn't have much time left so she quickly told her family she loved them all and that she would be waiting for them to rescue her if she didn't get out first. The Doctor answered her back.

_Hold on for us, Te'lesu, be brave and don't give up. We'll find you somehow,_ he thought.

_Doctor, they want information about you but I won't say anything. I won't let them hurt you. No matter what they do to me I'll keep my mouth shut._

_No, Awinita, don't. I don't care if they come after me but I don't want them hurting you. Do what they want for the moment. Obey them; don't bring needless suffering on yourself. I know you want to protect me but there's no need. Let them come after us so we can finally meet them face to face, defeat them and get some answers. Just cooperate with them, alright?_

Tears streamed down her face and she reluctantly agreed to obey his instructions. Her family sent love into her mind trying to soothe her anguish.

_I'll be alright, Awinita, _the Doctor thought in a gentle tone of voice._ Just concentrate on surviving that place. I'm a 1200 year old boy, I can handle myself. I won't hate you if you tell them about me. I could never hate you, my beloved sister. Please, I'm begging you; think only of yourself and your safety. Don't sacrifice yourself for me._

Just then she heard the door handle turning.

_They're here. They're opening the door, _she thought.

_We will find you, Te'lesu, _Alan thought._ We won't rest until you're back here safe with us. Count on it. _

Awinita looked back and saw two men coming into the room. She shuddered when she saw one of them holding a truncheon.

_They're gonna knock me out; one of them has a nightstick. Goodbye for now, my beloved family. I love…_

Her thought was cut off when the man slammed the truncheon down on her skull.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

After Awinita was knocked out, the Doctor looked at Edison and Theora and in a pained voice told them what his sister had told them. Both their hearts went out to them and it strengthened their resolve to help them get her back safe and sound.

Edison frowned when the Doctor finished.

"You're a tool?" he said to him. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know but I'm sure it's not pleasant," the Doctor said. "But I'd rather they did something to me than Awinita."

"And she didn't get any clue of her whereabouts?"

They shook their heads. Edison thought.

"So this has happened before if they have an exit door leading to a room. At least they prepared for it," he mused. "And now we know for sure Thomas is helping them."

"And Nelak is there too, somewhere," Alan said.

The Doctor thought for a moment.

"If the room was unshielded, it must mean she was being watched by CCTV or else they were hoping she'd run in there. I have a feeling they wanted us to feel her while they tortured her. They've been careful about shielding her up until now and I'm inclined to think that wasn't an oversight. That was a huge part of the torture, both for her and for us. I have a feeling that won't be the last time they do it. I'm sure this Cyber Messiah is confident we'll never be able to find her so he'll taunt us by torturing her and letting us feel it. And he knows we can feel her mind so whoever it is has knowledge of Time Lords and their abilities."

"Maybe your friend is the Cyber Messiah," Theora said.

"Maybe, or maybe he was tortured in order to find out what he knows," the Doctor said. "If he's in there then he's shielded as well so there could be a chance he's reverted back to himself and being held captive in there."

"Then if that's true, they must be doing something along the lines of what the Rani did and shielding him from Awinita since she said she didn't feel him," Alan said.

"Yes, that's true. But on the other hand, there are other races in the universe who know about Time Lords so that's another option."

He sighed and Rain took his hand.

"I just wish we knew for sure what was going on and where she was being held," the Doctor said, staring off into space.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Awinita groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She noticed she was back in her bed only this time there were bed rails on either side with leather restraints affixed to them. The restraints were around her wrists and ankles and she had been drugged again. She looked up and saw the purple blur that was Thomas's hair.

"I warned you, Awinita," he said to her. "I warned you they'd punish you if tried anything."

"I had to try," she slurred. "I had to try to escape."

"There is no escape. You saw that. That exit door led to a torture chamber. All the visible exit doors are designed like that. There are no windows anywhere, nothing. You're sealed in."

She frowned.

"Then how do you get out to go to the apartment?"

"I'm blindfolded and a heavy black hood is thrown over my head and it's tied securely around my neck so I can't slip it off on the way there. Then someone leads me out through an actual entrance, I'm put in a car and I'm driven to the apartment. I wasn't lying to Edison when I said I didn't know the landmarks between the apartment and this place. I really don't know and I don't know if we are north of the other building. I just said that because I was trying to get him to shut up and get off my back. I told you before. I'm a prisoner too just like you. Now I understand you knocking me out earlier and I'm not angry at you for that but you have to know that you've just made it worse for yourself and you didn't accomplish anything with your little stunt."

"I accomplished one thing," Awinita slurred.

"Oh? And what was that?"

"I talked to the Doctor."

"And? Like I said, what did you accomplish? You don't know where you are. I know that since I don't even know. So what good did it do to talk to him?"

"I let him know I was alive, that's what good it did."

"Well, frankly, being alive isn't a sure thing here. That can change day by day or even moment by moment so I wouldn't get comfy thinking just because you're a Time Lady you're not expendable. You're valuable but if you continue to cause trouble I'm sure the Cyber Messiah will have no qualms about killing you and finding another way to lure the Doctor here. Just so you know. And also, Awinita, just so you know…you've been unconscious for three hours and in that time I also was punished for allowing you to escape."

Awinita felt a twinge of guilt.

"I didn't mean for that to happen, honestly," she said sadly.

"I know you didn't but I was put in charge of you and in the Cyber Messiah's eyes I failed in my duties."

"What did they do to you?"

"Whipped me."

"Oh God, Thomas, I'm sorry, I really am."

He nodded.

"I know you are," he said gently. "I know you didn't mean for me to get punished with you and that's why I'm not angry. But they whipped my back. It's alright; it's not the first time that's happened. I have old whip scars from a couple of years ago when I first tried to escape here. I'm glad I'm wearing this gown though because it's loose and it's not pressed up against the wounds. But I have a feeling you're next, Awinita, so prepare yourself."

He saw her shudder at that and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "Like I said, it's not fair for you to be here. You've done nothing. It's the Doctor he really wants."

"Rain was whipped before, but I've never been," she murmured.

"Rain? Who's that?"

"My sister."

Thomas thought for a moment.

"The other woman with brown skin?"

She nodded.

"When was she whipped?"

"A few days ago, in the past. She was kidnapped and sent back to the past to be a slave and she was whipped on this plantation before we finally rescued her."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said softly.

"Yeah. I wasn't there when they did it or when they rescued her so I don't know how well she took it. She never told us about it, I don't even know if she told the Doctor. But I'm not gonna let them break my spirit."

"Good, I don't want that to happen either. Despite what you may think, I do want you to escape from here, Awinita. You don't belong here."

"Neither do you," she murmured.

He smiled and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Do you need anything? Bathroom, food, water, extra blanket?"

She shook her head. They both fell silent for a moment, lost in their thoughts. Finally, Thomas spoke.

"This Doctor, is he really a good guy?"

Awinita smiled.

"The best. He's one of the most wonderful people I've ever known. I've learned so much being with him. I haven't known him for very long but he took me under his wing and became my brother and friend and mentor. I look up to him and I try to be the kind of person he is. He's not evil or a world destroyer or anything like that. He helps people. He's helping me and my sisters reach our full potential. He does that with everyone he meets. Not many people walk away from him unchanged. The past few months I've been so blessed and I thank God that he and all the rest of my family came into my life."

She glanced at him.

"How 'bout you? You have any family that's missing you?"

He shook his head.

"I was orphaned when I was a baby. I grew up in the orphanage until I was 18 and had to get out and then I got a job and tried to make it on my own. I was doing fairly well until I got snatched."

"Any friends?"

"Not really. I'm kinda a loner."

"So no one cares if you're in here?"

"Nope."

He smiled when he saw the sad look on her face.

"Correction, no one but you cares if I'm in here," he said.

She shook her head.

"I wish you had what I had then. I not only have the love of the Doctor but the rest of my family as well."

"You mean this Rain and the Doctor's twin brother?"

"Yes, his name is Alan. He's wonderful too. I met him before I met the Doctor. But they're not the only ones. Everyone you saw in the apartment except Edison is a part of my family."

Thomas raised his eyebrow.

"Wow. And they all travel with you?"

She smiled.

"Yeah, it's a blast. We go throughout time and space and have fun together. We're just one big happy family."

He smiled.

"That sounds nice."

"It is. Everyone is my brother and sister, except for Jenny and Dex. They're my niece and nephew. And we also have two puppies we just recently adopted."

Thomas smiled when she saw the smile playing on her lips.

"I hope you get back to them then, Awinita," he said.

He noticed the door opening and he quickly shut up when two male cult members entered.

"The Lord wants you to bring Awinita with us. She is to be punished," one of them said.

Thomas felt his throat constrict but he was powerless at the moment to protect her. He knew any resistance would make it worse for him and her. He looked at Awinita.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's alright, I'm not afraid," she said calmly.

While the cult members watched, Thomas unbuckled the restraints, let down the right bed rail and gently helped Awinita sit up. He put his arm around her and took her hand while he walked her to the door. The two cult members turned and led the way. They all walked down the hallway towards the torture chamber. While they walked, Thomas glanced at her. She was very groggy from the drugs and he hoped that would help to dull the pain a bit. He saw a stoic and determined look on her face and couldn't help but wonder if that was one of the things the Doctor had taught her. He admired that about her but he wondered how long the stoicism would last once they started to punish her. He didn't know if the Cyber Messiah would let him be in there with them but even if he did he knew he would only be permitted to stand back and watch instead of giving her support.

After walking through a series of corridors they came to a room. One of the cult members opened the door and they stepped aside while Thomas led her inside. Then interior was bare except for a metal table that had restraints attached to it and cabinets along all four sides.

"Undress her and put her on her stomach," one of the members said dispassionately while he pointed to the table.

Thomas walked her over. The members stood by the door watching while he started to undress her. He moved behind her trying to block their view of her while he pulled her gown up over her head. He dropped it on the floor and unhooked her bra. While he did he stared at her skin and flinched when he saw how smooth it was and he knew it wouldn't be that way in a few minutes. He looked down and noticed a tattoo on her backside and admired it while Awinita grabbed her underwear and slid it down her legs. She covered her crotch and breasts with her hands while Thomas grabbed her upper arms and walked with her to the table. He helped her get on the table, taking note of the necklace with the turquoise pendant that was around her neck when she turned, helped her lay on her stomach and gently took her arms while he buckled the restraints around her wrists. He moved down and quickly did the same for her ankles before moving back to the middle, blocking the view of her private parts from the two cult members. He turned to face them.

"It's done," he said.

The members nodded. The one on the left went to get the Cyber Messiah while the other stood guard just outside the door. Thomas glanced around at Awinita and saw her shivering in the chilled air. He placed a hand on her shoulder while he kept his eyes on the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The cult member entered the Cyber Messiah's quarters. He walked over to the screen and knelt.

"My Lord, she is ready and waiting for you," he said.

The Cyber Messiah smiled.

"Excellent. I have no further need of you for the moment. Go about your business."

"Yes, my Lord."

The Cyber Messiah waited till he left the room before he stepped around the screen. He walked over to his control panel and glanced down at a series of buttons that turned the mind block off in certain rooms. His finger hovered over the one that turned it off in the torture chamber and he smirked.

"Once I press this button, Ka Faraq Gatri shall feel his companion's mind again and he shall be a witness to her punishment."

He pressed the button.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor used his flannel to lather soap onto his body. He was currently in the TARDIS shower cleaning off the grime from the day but also because he wanted time to think by himself. The others were off in other parts of the TARDIS doing different things. A dull undercurrent of worry ran through all their minds but everyone was trying to remain calm.

Suddenly he felt Awinita's mind wink back in. He and everyone else called to her asking if she was alright. They could feel her shock at feeling them again.

_Awinita? _The Doctor thought. _Te'lesu, are you alright?_

_Yes, I'm alright,_ she thought back.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief.

_Where are you, Awinita?_ He asked along with everyone else.

There was silence from her and the Doctor suddenly got a sinking feeling in his gut.

_Awinita, what are they doing to you?_ He thought to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thomas jerked his head around when he heard Awinita gasp.

"What? What is it?" he said, gently.

He could see a tear trickle down her cheek.

"No," he heard her whisper. "Not this, not now. Don't let them feel this too."

"Awinita," Thomas whispered, "what's going on?"

She looked at him.

"I can feel my family again," she whispered back. "I felt them when I was being tortured and they felt my pain and now they're going to feel it again."

"Oh God," Thomas whispered.

He squeezed her shoulder briefly but took his hand away when he saw the Cyber Messiah stop right outside the door. He forced himself to step away from her and adopt a passive expression.

"My Lord, she is ready," he said, trying to keep calm.

"Excellent, you may leave us," he said.

Thomas's throat went dry.

"My Lord," he forced out. "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay."

"Why?"

"I want to escort her back to her room when the torture is done."

"I will call for you when it's done. Now go and shut the door behind you."

"Yes, my Lord," he said, feeling his spirits sink.

He took one last look at Awinita and moved his leaded feet towards the door. Once he was through he glanced back once more and then closed the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor was perplexed. In addition to his family there was a new mind that just came into his consciousness. He brought it forward and scanned it but he didn't recognize the newcomer.

_Who is this?_ He thought to the stranger. _Who are you? Identify yourself!_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Cyber Messiah smiled. He felt several presences in his mind now besides the child in front of him. All of them were angrily demanding that he name himself.

_So,_ he thought to himself, _there are even more Time Lords and Ladies. This is getting better and better with each passing moment._

He concentrated on their minds.

_Silence! I wish to speak to the one known as Ka Faraq Gatri!_ He thought to them.

The voices all stilled.

_Who the hell is that?_ One of the women thought.

_I am sometimes known by that name,_ one of the men thought to him.

The Cyber Messiah brought his mind forward and isolated it from the others except for Awinita.

_You are the one who is called the Doctor?_ The Cyber Messiah thought.

_I am. Who are you?_

_I am known as the Cyber Messiah._

There was a pause.

_You're able to speak telepathically? _The Doctor thought.

_Yes, it is one of the gifts of my race. And I am glad since I wish you to bear witness._

_Bear witness to what?_

_Your companion's punishment for daring to escape._

_No! Please, spare her. I am here. I will surrender and come to you willingly. I will be your captive but let her go free._

_Oh, you will be mine in due time, Time Lord, but first I shall make you suffer and I will do that by making this Time Lady suffer._

_I'm warning you. If you harm her I will make you pay and pay dearly for it. _

_Oh I don't doubt it, Destroyer of Worlds, you've made many innocents pay dearly over the centuries, haven't you?_

By this time the Doctor was out of the shower with a towel around his waist. Ignoring the Cyber Messiah, he threw up a privacy block around Awinita's mind.

_Te'lesu, I'm here. Your Bro is here with you,_ he thought soothingly.

_I'm warning you, Ka Faraq Gatri, drop the mind block or I will make the child scream._

The Doctor cursed under his breath and dropped the privacy block.

_That's better,_ the Cyber Messiah thought to him.

_Why are you doing this? If it's me you want, why won't you tell me where you are? I will surrender willingly if you let Awinita go._

_I told you, Time Lord, I want to make you suffer first. I want you to spend several agonizing nights worrying about the fate of Awinita. She's very pretty and her skin is so soft and smooth, too bad it will be marred by my whip in a few minutes._

The Doctor's face drained of all color.

_No, not that, please! _He thought.

_She's very brave, this one. She's not even crying or whimpering. I admire such courage. But then again, let's see how brave she is when a whip is cracking across her back._

The Doctor closed his eyes trying to hold back the tears. He pulled his sister's mind forward and began to stroke it the way he often stroked Rain's mind when she needed comforting. He could sense her fear and longed to be there in person to shield her from the maniac.

_Awinita, be brave,_ he said as he stroked her mind.

_I will, Bro, I'll make you proud of me. _

A sobbing laugh escaped his lips.

_I'm already proud of you, Te'lesu,_ he thought back.

_I tried to keep this from you, Bro. I didn't want you to worry about me,_ Awinita thought to him.

The Doctor's hearts nearly broke at that. She was trying to be protective of him just like his wife was and it made him love her that much more. There was a long silence and the Doctor continued to stroke and send love into her mind giving her what comfort he could. Then suddenly, there was a sharp spike of pain and the Doctor let out a ragged gasp as the tears ran down his cheeks.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Awinita gasped when the whip cracked across her backside and pain exploded throughout her entire body. She gritted her teeth trying to keep from screaming, trying to be brave and keep herself calm so her brother wouldn't feel what she was going through but then the Cyber Messiah continued to whip her and she couldn't hold back anymore. Screams tore from her throat while the Cyber Messiah laughed at her and taunted the Doctor. She could feel the Doctor's mind and feel a mixture of anguish and rage. He threw up a privacy block and she wept when he told her he loved her and how proud he was of her and how he would throw her a big homecoming party when they finally found her. Tears streamed down her cheeks when she felt him forcefully sending his love into her mind, trying desperately to mask the pain she was feeling but each crack of the whip sent another jolt of pain that tore through her and momentarily made her forget everything else. He was blubbering, babbling on, talking about nothing to try to distract her that way but nothing was working.

Awinita let out a series of screams while he kept on, moving from her back to her buttocks. The Doctor started apologizing to her, telling her he was sorry he had failed her. Awinita tried to think back that it wasn't his fault but the pain made it hard to focus and she couldn't quite get that sentiment relayed to him. The Doctor dropped the privacy block and Awinita could hear him screaming at the Cyber Messiah to stop, begging for mercy for her but all he did was laugh back at him in his mind and continue on. Awinita was nearly ready to pass out from the pain and she willed herself to so the Doctor wouldn't have to feel her anymore. But the Cyber Messiah must have sensed she was on the verge of fainting because he finally let up and walked away. Awinita gasped and swallowed hard while the Doctor stroked her mind and told her how much he loved her. Finally she was able to think clearly enough to send love back to him and tell him that it wasn't his fault and that she loved him and always would. Through the haze of pain, she could see him putting the whip away and she rejoiced knowing it was over for the both of them. The Doctor was talking to the Cyber Messiah, offering himself to him, telling him he would do anything if he set her free but that made him taunt him even more.

_I'm sorry Ka Faraq Gatri, but you won't see her yet. She is mine and I will do what I want with her for the moment,_ he thought to him.

_Why? She's nothing to you,_ the Doctor thought back.

_No, but she's everything to you. She's one of your companions and I know how much you ache now, being able to feel her but not knowing where she is and unable to protect her. _

_Hear me! When I find you, there will be nothing to save you from my wrath. I will make you pay for this!_

_Oh, believe me, I will be waiting with baited breath for that very moment, _he thought back in a sarcastic tone of voice._ But until that moment both you and Awinita will continue to suffer. And when I finally tire of the child and have found out all I can about you, then I will let her go. _

_I will tell you anything you want to know._

_Thanks, but no thanks. It's more fun to break this one's spirit and send her back to you a dull, lifeless shell of her former self. But for the moment, the torment is over; at least it is for Awinita. I'm sure you'll continue to suffer through the night imagining what her back and buttocks look like now. You should see all the blood, Doctor; it's a mess in here now. _

Awinita winced when she heard her brother screaming curses at him. But it only amused him more. She watched him leave the room and heard the Doctor let out a scream of rage when the damper shielded the Cyber Messiah's mind from his, dissolving the privacy block between them. When she felt the others, she quickly isolated Rain's mind and briefly explained what had happened to her and him. She begged her to go to the Doctor and Rain quickly agreed. Then suddenly, her family's minds disappeared and she heard the Cyber Messiah summoning Thomas on the intercom, telling him to go to her, clean her up and take her back to her room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rain ran through the corridors towards the bathroom. Reaching it, she pounded on the door begging her husband to let her in. He opened the door and Rain's hearts broke when she saw the anguish on his face and the tear stains on his cheeks. She flung herself into his open arms and he lowered his head to her shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably while she held him and wept quietly.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Thomas felt sick to his stomach the moment he came in the room. Awinita was lying there weeping quietly. Her back and butt were riddled with whip marks and blood was all over her, the table and the floor. He felt rage at the Cyber Messiah for doing this and he hoped that the Doctor did find Awinita and did something nasty to him in return for what he did to her.

He moved towards the table and put his hand on the side of her head.

"Awinita," he said gently. "I'm gonna get you cleaned up and get you out of here, alright?"

She swallowed hard and nodded. Thomas let out a sad sigh while he walked over to the cabinets. He pulled a flannel out along with some soap, iodine, gauze and tape. He had been a victim of the whippings and had seen others whipped so he knew what had to be done. He found a box of surgical gloves and put a pair of them on. He turned the sink on and waited till the water was warm before he ran the flannel underneath it. He wrung it out, lathered some soap in it and moved back to Awinita.

"This is just soap and water, alright?" he said to her.

She nodded. Thomas gingerly touched the warm washcloth to her back and very carefully cleaned the blood off her body. He glanced at her and saw her wincing but other than that, she remained still. To get her mind off what he was doing, Thomas asked her about traveling with the Doctor and some of the places she had gone. Weakly, she began to talk while she stared at the closed door. Thomas listened with interest while he continued to clean her off. He knew he had done the right thing because Awinita was keeping calm while she talked. He moved the flannel down towards her butt, rage flaring up when he noticed one of the whip marks went right across her beautiful butterfly tattoo marring it permanently. He shook his head knowing that she was going to be carrying nasty scars on her body for the rest of his life just like he would and her sister would.

He finished cleaning her off and wiped down the table before he took the bloodied washcloth back to the sink. He set it inside and grabbed the iodine, gauze and tape. He took them back and asked more questions about traveling with the Doctor while he applied the iodine to her skin. Once that was finished, he took the gauze pads and put them over the nastier looking wounds protecting them from infection. Then he taped them to her skin and took everything back to the cabinets when he was finished. He put the bloodied flannel in a biohazard bin, took off the gloves and also tossed them in. He walked back to Awinita and loosened the restraints. He helped her turn over and winced when the pressure made her grit her teeth. Quickly but carefully, he helped her to sit up and went to fetch her clothes which were still in a heap on the floor. Walking back around he noticed that Awinita was so preoccupied with the pain that she hadn't bothered to cover her private parts with her hands and he got a eyeful of them before he averted his eyes. He didn't bother with the bra or panties since they would rub against the wounds. He just helped her put the gown on and then he helped her to stand. He grabbed her underwear and held it in his right hand while he supported her with the other and helped her move out of the room back towards her room. When they finally reached it, he urged Awinita to lie on her stomach and only restrained her wrists. He put the ends of the leg restraints underneath the cover to make it look like they were on and covered her completely up to her shoulders. He squeezed her shoulder.

"I have to go clean up the rest of the blood but I'll be back soon," he said to her.

She nodded and he gave her shoulder one more squeeze before he turned and walked out of the room behind him. Once he was out of the room and the door was closed, Awinita began to weep softly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After that day, Thomas held out hope that her family would find her quickly but to his dismay, one day turned into two, then three, then a week, then two and finally a month and four days since the incident. Awinita had been tortured off and on with intervals in between to allow her to recover but according to her the Cyber Messiah never turned off the block to allow her family to feel it. Thomas guessed they were being tortured anyway since it had been a month since she had any contact with them. The exit doors were all guarded so she couldn't go back out and make contact with them. He figured she wouldn't try it anyway since she knew they were torture rooms.

Apart from torture sessions with the Cyber Messiah, Thomas was the only other person she was allowed to see. He hadn't administered any more whippings and the wounds on her back had healed up for the most part and she was able to sit up without agony. Thomas kept looking for ways to help her but he had been restricted to the building and his sole duty now was being her caretaker so there was no chance of him sneaking away from his apartment and going to find Edison and the others. He figured her family was probably looking everywhere for her but there was no way he could contact them. There were no phones, the computers all were password protected, there were no exits save the ones to the torture rooms and the corridors were constantly watched. There was no real way to save her from the torture either. He couldn't take her outside and if they found out he was sympathetic to her, he would be tortured alongside her or end up with his brain drained or dead. So he did the only thing he could do, care for her and provide some companionship and comfort while they waited for someone to rescue her.

In the month that Thomas had known her, the two of them had become close friends. Awinita finally trusted him and had opened up to him, talking to him to ease the boredom and ease her fears. Thomas had actually learned a great deal about her. He knew about her human life and about her becoming a Time Lady. He in turn told her about his life, although he admitted to her that it wasn't quite as interesting as traveling in time and space. She also told him more about the Doctor and the more he heard the more he realized Awinita was right about him and the Cyber Messiah was wrong. The Doctor was a fascinating man. He had heard numerous stories about him over the past month and he was envious that Awinita actually got to travel though time and space at his side.

He also had to admit that he had feelings for her after getting to know her better and seeing how warmhearted and loving and kind she was. He had been attracted to her physically from the start; the woman was a looker after all. But the more he found out about her, the more he loved her inside beauty. But for the moment he kept those feelings to himself since it was hardly the time or place to start up a romance when the poor girl was getting tortured on a regular basis. Still, he found that he was becoming more and more protective of her and stepped up his efforts to find a way to escape, at least find a way out for her so she could get back to her family.

It was now a month and five days since she was abducted and on that morning Thomas rose from the camp bed that had been put just outside the door to her room. He yawned and walked inside. He knew that Awinita didn't sleep much but she was still being drugged and that caused her to sleep more than she normally would. He walked over to her side and stared down at her while she slept. He smiled when he saw how peaceful she looked and how beautiful she was. Hesitantly, he reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her right eye. He gazed at her for a couple more minutes before he lightly shook her.

"Hey, Nita, time to get up. It's breakfast time," he said.

Awinita slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him.

"Nita?" she mumbled.

He shrugged.

"I've known you a little over a month now. I can't use something more informal than Awinita?"

"I wasn't aware Awinita was a formal name," she mumbled.

"Okay, okay, I'll use Awinita then," he said.

She shrugged.

"Nita's okay, I guess. I've just never been called that before."

Thomas unbuckled her restraints.

"Never? Seems like an obvious nickname to me," he said to her.

"My family called me hon or sweetie or sugar pie or little fawn since my name means fawn, but never Nita."

"Little fawn? I like that too," he said lowering the bedrail. "So, did you ever get called Bambi then?"

"No," she said, rolling her eyes while he chuckled.

He put his arm around her and helped her to sit up and then helped her to the bathroom.

"Have you heard anything about the Doctor from the Cyber Messiah?" Awinita asked.

"No, he never mentions him anymore. I'm pretty sure he hasn't lost interest so I'm betting this is just his way of tormenting your family."

He helped lower her to the toilet and stepped outside, leaving the door ajar so they could talk.

"He's making a huge mistake doing this," Awinita said to him. "The longer he does this the more enraged my family's gonna be when they do find him and he's gonna pay for tormenting them and me. I've seen the Doctor when he's royally pissed off. It's not a pretty sight.

"Well, if he did earn names from other people like The Destroyer of Worlds, I can imagine how pissed off he will be once he finds you."

"I'm done now."

"Okey-dokey, Nita, let's get you back in bed and I'll get you some breakfast."

"Great, more crappy food to eat," she said while he walked back in.

He smiled and flushed the toilet for her while he helped her to stand. He helped her back into bed, laid the restraints across her arms and legs and covered her up to her shoulders. He raised the bed rail and smiled at her.

"I'll be back with the crappy food," he said to her.

"Okay."

He walked out of the room while Awinita sighed and closed her eyes. He walked down the corridor, turned and walked halfway down the second one to the kitchen. Inside there was usually a tray that someone had made up for her the night before with food that he knew had some sedatives in them. It was usually on the counter by the fridge, covered with a couple of napkins to keep flies away. But when he entered the kitchen there was no tray there. He looked around in confusion but he couldn't see it anywhere. He opened the fridge, the oven, the microwave but there was no tray.

"What the hell?" he muttered. "Where's her damn food?"

Sighing, he opened the fridge and rummaged through it, grabbing some slices of turkey and some mayonnaise. He set them on the counter and grabbed the milk. He looked in the breadbox and grabbed some wheat bread. He made her a couple of turkey sandwiches and poured a glass of milk before putting everything back. He carried the plate and glass back down the hallway towards her room.

Awinita stared at the food when he came in and set them on the bedside table.

"Where's my usual junk?" she muttered.

"I have no idea. They didn't fix anything for you so I fixed you this," he said.

He lowered the bedrail, helped her to sit up and handed her the plate while he set beside her. While she ate they talked and he helped steady the glass when she took a drink of milk. Once she was finished, he took the dishes away, helped her back into bed, placed the restraints over her body and covered her back up. He took the dirty dishes back into the kitchen. When he entered he was shocked to see an older cult member glaring at him.

"I saw you carry that food out and watched you take it to the girl. That food was not for her," he said to him.

"Well, maybe if the person in charge of fixing her tray did their duty I wouldn't have to resort to feeding her out of the fridge."

"She's not to be fed at all."

Thomas was stunned.

"What? Why?"

"The Lord has decreed it. She is to be denied food until further notice. She is only allowed to have water."

Thomas fought to keep his anger under control.

"She has done nothing wrong," he protested. "She has obeyed for a month now. Why is she being punished like this?"

The cult member narrowed his eyes.

"Why do you care if she suffers?"

"Because she is under my care and I would like to know why the Lord suddenly decided to starve her."

"That is not for you to question; the Cyber Messiah's word is law. You are to obey it. If he decrees the female is not to be fed then she will not be fed. And just to make sure that happens, the Cyber Messiah has ordered locks on the refrigerator and all the cabinets. From now on, only certain people will be able to get food out."

Thomas felt like punching the man when he saw the haughty look on his face. He kept calm, quickly washed the dishes and put them in the strainer. He calmly walked past the man fighting the urge to scream out a steady stream of curses.

_God this is getting worse and worse,_ he thought to himself_. I gotta get Nita out of here before she ends up dead. I gotta reach the Doctor somehow. But how?_

He paused by an open door and walked inside the room so he could get his anger under control so he could break the news gently to Awinita. The room was a living room. There was a filtered TV that blocked out news from the outside world. There were two chairs, a couch, a coffee table, a smaller table beside one of the chairs with a lamp on it and a computer desk and chair at the back with a password protected PC sitting on top of it. Thomas walked over to the couch and slumped down on it. He put his head in his hands at a loss as what to do to save his friend.

"Yoo-h-h-hoo!"

He jerked his head up and saw a odd looking man on the computer screen. At first he thought it was just some kind of weird screensaver since the background behind the man was rotating but then the man looked right at him.

"H-hey, where am I?" he said to him.

Thomas got up and walked over to him, completely confused. He raised his eyebrow when the man's head tilted up to look at him. He walked to the left keeping his eyes on him and the man turned his head to watch him. He walked back to the right and the man followed his movement. He walked back to the front of the screen and the man smiled at him.

"Have a nice w-w-walk?" he said to him.

"Are you talking to me?"

"N-n-no, I'm talking to the ghost of my d-d-dead auntie behind you," he said sarcastically.

Thomas pulled out the chair that was in front of the computer desk and sat down, keeping his eyes on the man. The man stared right back at him.

"Hello," the man said.

"Um…hi," Thomas said hesitantly. "Who are you?"

"My name is M-M-Max," he said, proudly. "You?"

"Thomas."

Max stared at him.

"Wait, ww-w-eren't you the guy that Edison talked talked to?"

"Wait, you know Edison?"

"I know him int-t-t-timately," Max said with an enigmatic smile.

"Where did you come from?"

"Outside. I've been jumping screens searching for the cyber c-c-cult."

"This is it."

Max blinked.

"I b-b-beg your p-p-pardon."

"This is the cult, you found it."

"I d-d-did? At last, I can finally go back home to Edis-s-son! Thanks for the info, T-T-T-Thomas. I'll be seeing you!"

"Wait!"

Max stared at him, waiting for him to speak.

"The Doctor, he's with Edison Carter, right?"

"As f-f-far as I know."

"Awinita is here. She's being held prisoner. The Doctor and her family haven't heard from her in a month but she's still alive. They've tortured her in that time and now they're going to starve her. Please lead them here so they can get her out of here. And tell the Doctor that I'm not evil and I'm not with them, I've been caring for her as best I can, but there's only so much I can do or I'll end up tortured and dead. She's alright at the moment but I don't know how much longer that'll last. You've got to bring them here so they can get her and stop the Cyber Messiah before it's too late, alright?"

"G-g-gotcha," Max said.

"Go, hurry! Bring the Doctor here."

Max vanished and the screen went back to being blank. Thomas felt hope swelling in his heart while he got up, pushed the chair in and hurried from the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Edison unlocked the door to his apartment and he, the Doctor and his family came inside. For the past month, they had been all over the city searching for Awinita and the location of the cult. But there had been only silence, not just from Awinita but also the cult. There had been no more brain drained cult members turning up out of the blue, not a peep from them which Edison figured was the idea. All of them were distraught, filled with fear about what might be happening to Awinita and they ran themselves ragged searching for any hint of the cult. In fact, Edison finally had to step in and demand they rest before they all had a nervous breakdown.

That was what they were doing at the moment. Edison had gotten some Chinese takeout and insisted they all go home to rest and have some lunch before they went out again. Theora was at work and Edison had her manning the computer there searching for any sign of cult activity from the news feeds or any lead they could hunt down.

Edison took the food to the kitchen to prepare it while the others slumped down on the sofa and chairs and on the floor. The Doctor and Alan sat on the floor and held their wives while the others stared at the walls, dejected.

"This isn't working," Alan said. "We can't go over the entire city inch by inch. We have to figure out something else or we'll drop dead of exhaustion before we even get to her."

"But what else can we do?" Mingxia said. "With the damper and the mind block there's no way to track her and she doesn't know where she is, so there's no way she could tell us even if she was able to think to us."

"There has to be a way, there's just got to be," the Doctor said. "I don't care how clever a person is; sooner or later they're gonna slip up and make a mistake. We just gotta figure out the mistake."

"Hello?"

Jenny was sitting at the end of the couch when she heard a voice coming from the computer. She got up and looked at it.

"Max!" she said, smiling. "We haven't seen you in ages."

"I know. I have n-n-news. I found the c-c-cult."

There was a hushed silence for a moment, everyone wondering whether they had heard him right. Then Jenny quickly turned the computer around so it faced all of them.

"You found where the cult is hiding at?" Jenny asked.

"Yup, I d-d-did."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and murmured "Thank God".

"Jenny, run and get Edison," the Doctor said.

Jenny leapt up and ran into the kitchen. She returned a minute later with Edison behind her.

"Max, you found it?" Edison said, grinning.

"Yes, I d-d-did."

"Where? Where is it?"

Edison winked out and the screen was replaced by a 3D building layout. There was a four story building with what looked like a subterranean structure underneath it. Edison studied it for a moment and shook his head.

"I'm sending this to Theora, maybe she can tell us where it's at," he said.

He minimized the map, brought up the vid phone and contacted her. There were a couple of rings and then she appeared on the screen.

"Yes, Edison?"

"Max did it, he found the location of the cult but he gave me some building's layout. I don't know where it is but I want you to take a look at it and tell me if you can figure out the location."

"Okay, send it to me."

Edison brought the file back up and sent a copy of it to her. He minimized it and watched while Theora stared at it on a different screen.

"I know this place. I've seen old news reports about it. This is an old government installation that was built a long time ago, back when there was the danger of nuclear war between us and The United Soviet Empire," she said. "I'm not sure about the function of the building up above, most likely offices, but the structure underneath is a fallout shelter that was built to shelter the most important people in New York in case there was an attack. Every major city in the US has one. But they are completely underground which means…no windows."

The Doctor and his family shared a look.

"Well, I'll be damned," Jack said, "No wonder we couldn't find it."

"The shelter is fairly large," Theora said. "Because it was designed to house people for a long period of time and that means they have everything down there you might need to survive. But it's been abandoned for God knows how long, Edison, along with the building above it. I'm sure the fallout shelter's been forgotten by now by most New Yorkers."

"Well, I certainly didn't know about it. Do you have directions to it?"

"Yup, I can bring that up, print it out and send them to you."

Edison grinned when the others whooped and hollered.

"See, I told you, the villain slipped up and made a mistake, he didn't count on Max being able to get in and out without being noticed," the Doctor said.

"So when Awinita went through that exit door, she was going into another room in the fallout shelter," Mingxia said to the Doctor.

"Yes and I'm sure they installed an exit sign there to make people think it was a way out and lure them into a trap. If it's a fallout shelter, they would have to have an independent source of electricity in case of nuclear attack. And if they have that, they don't have to worry about being charged for the electricity and people finding out that they're there. It's ingenious. A perfect place to hide a cult."

"Yeah, now we just have to pray Awinita's still alive down there," Rose said.

"I'm betting she is. He still wants me and he's not gonna give up his advantage. As long as she lives, he has power over me…or so he thinks."

They watched while three pieces of paper came through the fax under the computer. One was a 3D map of the building. The second was a 3D map of the bunker and the third was the directions. Theora smiled at them.

"I'm glad we finally got a break," she said to them. "I hope Awinita's alright."

The screen switched back to Max.

"I can answer t-t-that," he said to them. "Awinita is alive."

They breathed sighs of relief.

"But she's b-b-been tortured," Max added.

"Oh God, no," Rain murmured while the Doctor put his hand on her shoulder.

"I found that T-T-Thomas and he's told me to t-t-tell you that he's been t-t-taking care of her. He's not evil and he's not with the c-c-cult. He's tried to look after her but there's only so much he can do do or they'll kill him t-too. He wanted me to t-t-tell you that."

"Well, it's nice to know she had someone down there caring for her," Edison said. "Theora, you get that?"

The screen switched back to her.

"Yeah, I did. I'm glad Thomas was looking after her. I hope she's still in one piece when you find her."

Max came back.

"Oh! I'm s-s-sorry, mem-memory circuits are going in my old age. He also said that they just started s-s-starving her too."

The Doctor's face went pale.

"That settles it, we have to get over there before she ends up dead," he said.

"The only problem is we just can't go waltzing in there," Edison said, "they know our faces now. They'll nab us in a heartbeat. So if any of you have an effective alien disguise we can use…"

They thought. Suddenly, a huge grin spread over the Doctor's face.

"What is it, Love?" Rain said.

He let out an insane giggle while he leapt up and sprinted back into the TARDIS.

"Oh, this oughta be good," Jack muttered.

Ten minutes later, he strolled back out with his hand behind his back. He walked over to his wife, leaned down beside her and held his hand out to her.

"Do you remember this, Latara?" he said.

Her eyes widened.

"Oh my God, you found the imager?" she said.

"Yup, asked the TARDIS to look for it and bring it to me and she did. Told ya it would come in handy one day."

"What is it?" Edison asked.

"This is a holographic imager. It projects a three dimensional hologram around someone that looks completely realistic."

He briefly explained the Valeyard and how he was forced to impersonate a woman.

"This is actually how Rain and I ended up together," he said, winking at her when she giggled. "And I fooled her completely. She didn't know it was me until I revealed myself. But if I wear this around my neck I can look like a completely different person and pass myself off as a cult member while I search for Awinita."

"That's wonderful but what about the rest of us?" Edison said.

"I don't want you coming with me. I'll go in alone."

"But…you need us," Edison said.

"Edison, think about it. If ten people go in there someone's bound to notice it. If I go by myself in disguise I can move around and hopefully no one will question me. At the very least let me go in first and then I'll phone you if I need you."

"How?"

He looked at Donna.

"She has a mobile and I have one that a friend of mine once gave me. I'll take it with me and if I need help or need you to summon the police I'll ring you and tell you so. But I want to go in by myself anyway. It's me the Cyber Messiah wants and I wanna face him and put an end to all this."

"But who are you gonna look like?" Rain said. "Surely they keep track of all their members."

The Doctor thought.

"I'll pose as Thomas. I know what he looks like and I know his voice and we're about the same height. And I assume his story about being dressed in a gown fits the outfit that teenage girl was wearing. I can program that in and hey presto, I'm a cult member."

"You sure you don't wanna go as Morana?" Alan said.

He shot him a look while they all snickered.

"No thanks I don't fancy going as a woman again if I can help it," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, if you insist on going in alone, take Max with you. Max can help disable alarms and cameras and guide you through the shelter. Can't you?"

"I most certainly c-c-can," he replied.

"Okay, he can come with me."

"Gee, you say that like you have a choice," Edison said with a grin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, everyone," the Doctor yelled through the door of the TARDIS. "Are you ready to see me as Thomas?"

"Yes!" they yelled in unison.

The door opened and "Thomas" stepped outside. They stared at him. He looked exactly like Thomas. He was wearing the long white gown, which looked odd since they had only seen him in street clothes. He strolled over to Edison.

"Alright, Carter," he said, imitating Thomas's voice, "buzz off, I don't know anything about any cult."

"God, that's…disturbing," Edison said.

He reached out and touched him.

"You're touching me and my clothes," the Doctor said in his normal voice, "and if you touch the hands you'll feel my hands, which isn't as big a problem as it was when I was impersonating Morana. But this disguise plus my sonic screwdriver will hopefully get me inside and once I'm inside, Max can help me out. And with luck, I'll find Awinita and get her to safety before I go back and deal with the Cyber Messiah once and for all."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

"Well, here goes nothing," the Doctor said.

They were hidden behind a group of TVs about thirty feet from the entrance of the building. Edison had pulled one of them down to the ground and Max was on it, listening in. The Doctor, who had the imager off, glanced at him.

"Go in ahead of me and turn off any alarms and deactivate the damper and the blocks, alright?"

"Alright," Max said.

The screen winked out. The Doctor looked at the others.

"Since he's doing that, we'll all have to shield our minds including me so the Cyber Messiah won't feel us. Jack, come here, I have to do the shielding for you."

He nodded and came forward. Edison watched, fascinated, while the Doctor put his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. While he was doing that everyone else went ahead and threw up a block around their minds. After a minute, the Doctor opened his eyes and lowered his hands.

"Shielded," he said to him.

He threw up a block around his own mind and turned the imager on.

"Okay," he said in his own voice. "I have my screwdriver and the mobile. Let me see the maps one more time."

Edison handed him the maps and he studied them, committing the details to memory. After a couple of minutes, he nodded and handed them back to Edison.

"Okay, I'm ready now," he said.

He kissed Rain and squeezed her hand before he stood up and quickly dashed to the entrance. The others sat in a huddle and watched him go. He reached the door, tried it, used the sonic screwdriver on it and disabled the CCTV camera just inside it. He unlocked the other door and ran across the lobby. He headed down a corridor towards the elevator. Beside it was the door to the stairs. He went inside the door and headed down to the basement level. When he got to it, he stepped off the last step and walked over the dirty linoleum floor scanning it with his screwdriver. His screwdriver finally picked up a reading and he walked over to the spot. On the floor there was a series of thin cracks in a rectangle. The Doctor smiled as he knelt down and put his fingers in a tiny groove in the floor. He pulled and the section of floor swung up to reveal the entrance to the shelter. There was a metal ladder going down. The Doctor looked around the bottom of it but couldn't see anyone guarding it. He put his feet on the rungs of the ladder and climbed down. He reached the bottom, turned and saw he was in a tiny room with a huge metal door at the other end of it. He walked over to the door, grabbed the metal wheel that operated the lock and with a grunt, turned it. Once it was turned all the way, he slowly opened it a crack and peeked inside. he couldn't see anyone on the right side of the door so he opened it up more, tensing his body in case someone was on the other side waiting for him to emerge. He squeezed through it and quickly jerked his head around but no one was there. The moment he stepped through, he instantly felt the mind of his sister and the Cyber Messiah. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing Awinita was still alive. He turned to close the door and noticed it was built into the wall and when he shut it the seam was hidden as if it wasn't there.

"So that's where the exit is, eh?" he muttered to himself. "Very clever indeed."

He looked around, committing the location to memory before heading off.

"Now, my sister, time to get you the hell out of this place," he muttered to himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thomas walked out of Awinita's room. He had told her about the Cyber Messiah wanting to starve her and she took it well. He figured she'd been tortured so much in the past month that the starvation was just one more thing she had to deal with. He did tell her about Max and she was overjoyed about that, hoping that meant her family would come to rescue them. Thomas tried to correct her and tell her he didn't deserve to be rescued but she was adamant that the Doctor take him too.

"You don't belong here, Thomas," she said. "You're not like them. You've taken care of me the best you could and you're my friend. I'm not letting Bro leave here without you."

After taking her to the bathroom, she had drifted off to sleep and Thomas decided to go rest a moment and see if he could sneak some food off before they put locks on everything. He walked out, closing the door behind him and headed down the corridor. He reached the end of it, turned and stopped short. There was a mirror image of himself standing in front of him.

"What the hell?" Thomas murmured.

"Hello, Thomas," the Doctor said in his own voice.

"Who are you?"

"You don't recognize my voice? After all, you did tell me to piss off and get out of your flat after I got angry at you."

Thomas was stunned.

"Doctor?" he said.

"The one and the only."

"How…how the hell did you…"

"I'll explain how I managed the disguise later. First things first, where is Awinita?"

"Her room's down this other hallway. Follow me."

The Doctor followed behind him. Thomas walked up to the corner, glanced at him and looked around the corner to make sure there was no one around. He nodded to the Doctor and he followed him back to Awinita's room. He opened the door, the Doctor stepped inside and his hearts nearly burst from his chest when he saw his sister asleep in bed. He waited until Thomas had come inside and shut the door before he reached up and turned off the imager. Ignoring the stunned expression on Thomas's face, he walked over and bent over, laying his hand on his sister's head. He smiled when he noticed she was sleeping peacefully and gave her a feather light kiss on her temple.

"Awinita," he said in her ear.

"Mmmm?" Awinita murmured in her sleep.

"It's me, Te'lesu, it's the Doctor. I'm here."

He rubbed her arm while Awinita slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Bro?"

He smiled and nodded. He laid his forehead against hers and sent love into her mind when he saw her eyes misting up.

"I've missed you so much, my sister," he whispered to her. "All of us have. Our hearts have been aching for you this past month."

"Mine too," Awinita said.

"Are you ready to get away from this place?"

"Hell, yes," she said as he chuckled.

He lowered the bedrail, pulled back the covers and was relieved when he saw the restraints were off. He helped her to sit up and sat down beside her while they embraced. While he held her, he looked at Thomas who was still by the door.

"What have they done to her?" he said.

"They've whipped her, beat her, shocked her, put her head underwater repeatedly and now they're starving her."

The Doctor held her protectively.

"I'll stop him, Te'lesu, I'll make sure he won't hurt you or anyone else again," he said to Awinita.

He noticed the glazed look in her eyes.

"They're still drugging her?" he said.

"Yes, usually they put it in her food but she hasn't had anything since last night since they're not going to feed her anymore. I gave her two turkey sandwiches and some milk but that was ordinary food from the fridge."

"Thank you for feeding her then," the Doctor said.

"Well at the time I didn't know they were starving her and I got yelled at for doing that but I don't care. I was heading back to the kitchen to see if I could sneak out more food before they put locks on everything and that's when I ran into you."

"Bro, he's not like them. He's taken care of me. He couldn't protect me from the torture because they would have tortured and killed him but he's helped me and healed me and he's been a friend. He doesn't belong here either. Please let him come with us."

The Doctor nodded.

"Thank you," she murmured.

He smiled and kissed her temple. He looked at Thomas.

"I'm grateful to you for doing this. For looking after her."

"It's no problem. Awinita's a sweet girl."

"That she is. I do need your help though. Edison and the rest of our family are waiting outside and I can get her out the real exit and back to them where she'll be safe but I need some information about the Cyber Messiah and I need you to tell me where he's usually at."

"That's not a problem. I wanna see him go down in the worse way. Whatever you need me to do I'll do it."

"Thank you," he said. "I'm glad you're not like the rest of them."

"Well, I was being watched closely in the apartment so I couldn't tell you anything and I was being monitored when I went to kidnap one of you. Everyone around me has been brainwashed, except me. The brainwashing didn't take on me but I don't let on, obviously."

"Interesting that it didn't," the Doctor said. "You have quite a strong mind if you're able to resist something like that."

"I guess so," Thomas said, shrugging.

The Doctor looked at Awinita.

"Do you need me to carry you, Te'lesu?" he said with concern.

"You might have to, Bro. I can walk and the drug is wearing off but I'm not gonna be that fast."

He nodded.

"Don't worry, the real exit isn't far from here," he said.

"Where is it?" Awinita said.

"Yeah, where is the door?" Thomas said.

The Doctor looked at him.

"You don't know?"

"Like I told her, they blindfold and hood everyone who has to go out and they get led out. Then they drive them so I really don't know where I am or anything around me."

"You're in a fallout shelter under the ground," the Doctor said.

"We are? Oh, well I know we have to go up a ramp but I didn't know it was underground. No wonder there aren't any windows in here."

"Ramp? I came down a metal ladder, must be another way up then. And they must have added it because I didn't see it on the map," the Doctor mused.

Keeping his arm firmly around Awinita's middle, he helped her to stand.

"Te'lesu, will you let me pull up your gown so I can take a look at where he whipped you?"

Awinita nodded. Thomas came forward to her front and the Doctor let him put his hands on her sides and turn her so her back was facing him. He and Thomas pulled up the gown until it was just under her arms. Thomas held her while the Doctor looked. His hearts ached when he saw the scars crisscrossing her back and he seethed inwardly wanting nothing more than to do the same to the Cyber Messiah. He put his hand on Awinita's shoulder.

"Remember what I did for Rain when I got rid of her scars? I'll do that for you as well and your back will be good as new," he said.

"You have a way to make those permanently disappear?"

"Yes, I do."

"Thank God," Thomas breathed.

Awinita looked around at him.

"Do the same for him, Bro. he has old whip scars too," she said.

"You don't have to," Thomas said.

"It's no problem. It won't take that long and it's painless. Your skin will be as good as new," the Doctor said.

"Thank you then, I appreciate you doing that."

"Well, least I can do for you since you took care of Awinita for us."

They pulled down her gown and the Doctor sat her back down before gathering her in his arms and picking her up. Awinita giggled which made the Doctor grin.

"What?" he said.

She clasped her hands in front of her.

"My hero!" she said in a melodramatic falsetto voice. "At last you've come to rescue me!"

"Nice to know they didn't whip the sense of humor outta ya," he said fondly while she giggled.

She put her arms around him while he sent love into her mind. He nodded at Thomas and he opened the door and glanced out. Seeing no one was around they hurried out. Thomas shut the door back and they ran down the hallway. Thomas looked around the corner and when no one was there, nodded at the Doctor and he took the lead, leading him to the entrance. Once they were there, he sat Awinita's feet on the ground and held her close while he used his screwdriver to trip the lock and open the door.

"I'll be damned, it was in the wall," Thomas said. "And I walked by it a million times since I've been down here."

"You and everyone else I expect," the Doctor said.

All of them stepped inside and the Doctor shut the door. Keeping the mental block up, he reached out to Alan's mind.

_Te'lesau, I need you to come into the building, down to the entrance of the shelter. I have Awinita but I'm gonna need help. You have to climb a metal ladder to get up to the building and she's drugged and weak._

_On my way, Brother._

He looked back at Thomas.

"Help is coming. I just told my brother to come and help us," he whispered to him.

He held Awinita protectively, rubbing her back while he talked to Thomas about the Cyber Messiah.

"So you are allowed to enter his quarters without being summoned?" the Doctor said to him.

"Yes, but usually that ends up pissing him off. Still, if you're gonna do that, say it's an emergency of some kind or you have news. But that might not work since I've been confined here for a month."

"Has anyone else been outside?"

"Yes."

"So I could tell him that I have news that someone else relayed to me then."

"Yeah, that could work. But you have to go and get on your knees even though most of the time he's behind a heavy screen and can't see you."

The Doctor snorted.

"Well, that's because he's an egotistical megalomaniac, Thomas, of course he wants people to fawn over him whether or not he can see them."

He looked up when the hatch opened up and he saw Alan's face.

"Awinita," he said.

Awinita looked up at him.

"Little Bro, oh God, it's good to see you."

"Ditto, Sis."

He scrambled down the ladder and embraced her. He lowered his head to her shoulder and hugged her tightly.

"I've missed you so much," Alan said. "From here on out, you will never, never go to the restroom again. You will hold it in so you won't leave our sight."

Awinita laughed.

"What if I wet myself?"

"You wet yourself then," Alan said while she slapped his back.

Alan glanced at Thomas.

"Max said you've been taking care of her, thank you."

"Not a problem," he replied.

Alan gave her one more squeeze.

"Oh, come on, Te'lesu, the rest of the family is waiting for ya," he said.

He glanced up at the hole.

"I see the problem with getting her out."

"I can try to climb out," Awinita said.

"No, Sis, you're drugged up. You might miss a step and fall," Alan said. "But are you strong enough to hang on to me?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Okay."

The Doctor helped steady her while Alan turned around so his back was facing her.

"Okay, Te'lesu, put your arms around my neck and hang on. I'm gonna climb up and hopefully this will work."

Awinita put her arms around him and gripped her arms. Alan looked at the Doctor.

"Climb up behind me just in case."

He nodded. Alan walked over to the ladder and began to go up while the Doctor stood beside it.

"Good so far?" The Doctor asked him.

"Yes, so far," he replied.

When he was halfway up, the Doctor began to climb and followed him. Awinita held on for dear life and Alan switched to his respiratory bypass system so she could keep a firm hold on him. He managed to get her out and Awinita let go of him. They stood up and he quickly took hold of her while the Doctor watched from the hatch.

"One down, one to go. Now you just gotta find Nelak," Alan said.

"Oh, trust me, I'm gonna make the Cyber Messiah tell me," he said. "Can you handle her from here?"

"Yeah, I can get her up the steps, no problem."

"Good because Thomas and I still have some unfinished business down here."

"Good luck, Brother."

"Thanks," the Doctor said. "And Awinita?"

Awinita looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"You get some rest because I'm still gonna have a big homecoming party for ya," he said.

She giggled.

"Good, I can't wait."

Alan helped lower her to her knees and she embraced the Doctor.

"Be careful, please," she said to him.

"I will, I promise."

She looked down at Thomas.

"You too, Thomas. Be careful so you can come back to the TARDIS in one piece."

"I will, Nita."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Nita?" he said to Alan.

Alan grinned and shrugged.

Awinita gave the Doctor a kiss on the cheek and he returned it before she let go. Alan gathered her into his arms and he nodded goodbye at the Doctor. The Doctor watched them go back up the stairs and when they were out of sight, he grabbed the hatch and went down while he closed it. When he reached the last three rungs, he hopped off.

"Now, to business," he said to Thomas.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Everyone could barely contain their joy when they saw Alan come out the front door with Awinita in his arms. He looked around and sprinted to them. Once he was behind the TV's, Jack took off his coat and spread it on the ground since she had no shoes or socks on and was dressed only in the gown. They all embraced her and sent love into her mind when he finally sat her down and let go. Rose took off her jacket and let her borrow it. She thanked her while she slipped it on. Meanwhile Edison pulled out his comm and slipped it in his ear.

"Theora, we have Awinita back," Edison said to her.

"Great! I'm glad. How's the Doctor doing?"

"Still inside, heard from Max?"

"Not a word, I assume he's still inside as well."

"Well, we're waiting on them now."

He paused a moment and looked at Alan.

"If you want, I'll take her back to my apartment and she can rest there. That way she won't have to be out in the cold like this."

"Brilliant, I'll go with her and look after her. If the Doctor needs help, he's got all of you."

Edison nodded. Alan put a block around his brother's mind and told him what they were going to do.

_Great! If you're going to be there, will you take her to the med bay then? The bastard whipped her back and I was gonna use the tissue rejuvenator on her._

_Consider it done._

_Thanks. I'll see you back at the TARDIS then._

He cut off communication and looked at Edison.

"I'm ready."

Everyone gave Awinita hugs and kissed and told her they'd see her later. She tried to give the jacket back to Rose but she held up her hand.

"Nah, Sis, I'm fine without it. You need it for the ride back."

She nodded and squeezed Rose's hand. They watched while Alan gathered her up in his arms and both he and Edison sprinted back to the car while the others kept a watch on their surroundings.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thomas stopped the Doctor several doors down from the Cyber Messiah's quarters and ushered him into a room.

"It's right there at the end of the hall," he whispered to him once the door was closed.

The Doctor nodded and turned on the imager.

"Thanks, Thomas, wait here and I'll come for you when I'm done."

"No way, I'm going in with you."

"Thomas, that's not necessary."

"I want to. I'm just as angry as you are over what he did to Awinita and everyone else. I wanna help you fight him. Besides, the moment he figures out who you are, he's gonna be on the intercom calling the rest of the cult to come help him."

The Doctor glanced over at a computer sitting on a computer desk in the far corner of the room.

"Well, let's make sure he can't do that, shall we?"

He walked over the computer.

"Max, you there?"

Max appeared on the screen.

"Here, r-r-ready and waiting for orders."

"Have you disabled the intercom system?"

"No."

"I need you to do that so the Cyber Messiah can't call for help."

"G-g-gotcha, anything else else?"

The Doctor thought.

"If you find any traps he may have, disable those as well. Just make sure he can't summon anyone or do something underhanded while we're fighting him."

G-g-gotcha."

"Thanks, Max, that's all I need right now."

Max smiled and left the screen.

"Okay, I'm ready to take on Cyber Dork up there," he said. "If I do get him to tell me where the missing Time Lord is then perhaps you can find him. His real name is Nelak."

"Nelak, got it."

He patted him on the shoulder.

"Thanks again for all your help, Thomas."

"You're welcome, but…just a thought, you sound nothing like me."

He smiled.

"But I can sound like you," he said in Thomas's voice. "Time Lords are excellent mimics."

He grinned when he saw the stunned look on his face.

"Okay, well good luck then," Thomas said.

"Thanks."

He moved past him to the door. Opening it, he peeked out and walked to the Cyber Messiah's quarters while Thomas kept the door open a crack and watched him. He walked slowly to the Cyber Messiah's room and peeked inside. The room was dark and sparsely decorated. There was a white folding screen across the room which he assumed was where he sat. Beside the screen, he saw a little table. On the far right side of the room was a control panel with numerous buttons and switches on it and beside that was a large, heavy white curtain. Other than that there was nothing in the room. The Doctor took a deep breath and came into the room. He walked up to the screen and stopped short. Now he could see what was on top of the table and he saw a small silver fob watch with Gallifreyan writing on it. He fought the urge to just race over and grab it and instead fell to his knees, keeping his eyes on the watch.

"My Lord," he said in Thomas's voice. "I bring news."

There was silence and for a moment the Doctor thought there was no one there.

"How exactly did you come by this news, my disciple?"

The Doctor fought down his anger when he heard the voice that had taunted him a month earlier.

"Another member returned with news, my Lord. Edison Carter has discovered our whereabouts and he's coming here with the others."

"Impossible, he could not have found us," the Cyber Messiah said. "How did he do it?"

"I don't know, my Lord. I'm only telling you what was told to me."

"Who is the other member? What is his name?"

"I don't know, my Lord. He is new."

"If he is new, then he must be punished for coming back before it was time."

The Doctor gritted his teeth at that when he thought of his sister being punished. He glanced at the watch and his fingers flexed, longing to get up and get it from him.

_Come on, you pompous windbag,_ he thought to himself. _Leave the room._

He watched while the Cyber Messiah walked around the screen. He noticed the cloth down around his face and longed to rip it off so he could get a good look at him. The Cyber Messiah regarded him silently for a moment.

"I assume the Ka Faraq Gatri is accompanying him?"

"Probably, my Lord."

The Cyber Messiah chuckled.

"On his way to free his companion no doubt. Pity her mind will be drained before he can get to her."

The Doctor fought the urge to smirk at that. His eyes widened when the Cyber Messiah turned and touched the watch. For one moment the Doctor thought he was going to pick it up and take it with him. But then he turned back to him.

"Do you know what is contained within this watch, Thomas?"

"No, my Lord."

"The living mind of a Time Lord."

The Doctor feigned shock.

"But how can that be, my Lord?" he said.

"Time Lords are able to use what is known as a chameleon arch and drain their essence away into specially made fob watches in order to become a different person. The lost one, the Time Lord that I captured carries his true self inside this watch. I can hear him when I hold the watch, Thomas; I can hear him talking to me. And I have used special hypnotic abilities to enslave his mind inside the watch and force him to reveal the secret of the chameleon arch to me. That is how I was able to build the memory draining device."

The Doctor seethed at that but kept silent.

"The Time Lord came into my possession a few years ago quite by chance. My disciples spied on him and snatched him off the street and when they went back for his personal effects, they found this watch hidden deep within a drawer. They brought it to me thinking I could sell it for funds for the cult but when I held it in my hand I realized what it truly was and have kept it close to me ever since. I have known about Ka Faraq Gatri for many years now. He was supposedly the last of his race but when I found the watch I realized he wasn't. There are others like him. This one and his companion who will soon join him because I will take her Time Lady mind and store it so I can analyze it and find out more secrets of the Time Lords and of the universe itself. But there is one mind I want above all others and that is The Destroyer. He has knowledge far beyond any Time Lord because he is the only one to travel time and space extensively. With his mind at my disposal, I will be invincible."

He moved closer to him.

"Do you know who this lost one is, Thomas?"

"No, my Lord," the Doctor said, keeping himself under control.

He bent down closer to him.

"It's you, my dimwitted human."

It took everything the Doctor had not to react.

"Me, my Lord?" he said.

"Yes, Thomas, why did you think I allowed you to be my assistant? So I could keep an eye on you. Once I saw how obedient you were then I allowed you to go out with the others but you have always been valuable to me."

The Doctor fought the rage that threatened to overwhelm him. He suddenly realized why Thomas had been resistant to the brainwashing. Even as a human his mind was still powerful enough to resist. He couldn't help the fear rising within him. Thomas was kind, had been kind to him and Awinita but Joseph and Yana had been kind too until the watch was opened. Would Thomas do the same thing? Would he become insane the moment his mind was restored to him? The Cyber Messiah moved away from the table and the Doctor's eyes rested on the watch, the temptation to grab it proving hard to resist. He wanted the watch safely in his possession. He would get it and Thomas back to the TARDIS and once he was safely contained in a room, then he would open it and see what happened.

"You want it, don't you?"

His attention was focused back on the Cyber Messiah.

"You want it badly, don't you…Ka Faraq Gatri?"

He chuckled at the Doctor's stunned expression.

"I knew it was you all along, Time Lord. My mind is advanced enough to see through cheap holographic trickery. So you might as well turn it off and show your true self to me."

The Doctor rose and deactivated the imager.

"I didn't tell you to get up, my soon to be slave."

"Who are you? Name yourself!" he demanded. "Show me your face, you coward!"

"Coward? You're one to talk, Ka Faraq Gatri. You destroy entire worlds and flee in your TARDIS so you don't have to deal with the consequences."

"You don't know me so don't even try to assign blame," the Doctor growled. "If I'm a destroyer of anything, it'll be the destroyer of this cult in return for all the lives you've destroyed and enslaved. You made a mistake setting this so-called cult up in the first place and now you've made an even bigger mistake going after my "companion" as you call her. You hurt someone dear to me and in return I will hurt you. You have enslaved a fellow Time Lord and used his memories against his will. You have harmed two of my own and you will pay dearly for that."

The Cyber Messiah moved back to the watch, picked it up and held it out.

"One of your own, Ka Faraq Gatri? Here he is, take him, if you can," he said.

"Give him to me instead and I'll go easy on you."

The Cyber Messiah chuckled. He put the watch in his pouch and moved backwards away from him.

"Would you like to know what is behind this curtain, Time Lord?"

"I don't care. I'm through playing your idiotic games," the Doctor said, following him. "Give me the watch and surrender yourself and I'll show you mercy which is more than you showed Awinita and the others."

"Ah yes, the child. Did you enjoy her torture, Destroyer? Would you like to see her tortured in person?"

The Doctor chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"The child, as you put it, is gone. Safe with my family and away from your cruelty. So you see, your bargaining chip is gone."

"How did she escape? How did you find this place?" the Cyber Messiah said.

The Doctor smirked.

"Now, why would I want to tell you? After all, that's a Time Lord secret. Perhaps if you're lucky enough to drain my mind you can find out the answer yourself."

"Oh, and I will do just that."

He pulled back the curtain and the Doctor saw a bed. Behind it was a large control panel and on top of it was a helmet that resembled the one with the chameleon arch.

"This, Doctor," he said, turning and gesturing to it, "is what I will use to take your memories away. I will drain every last bit of your mind. Once I have done that and you are enslaved to me, I will go after your so-called family and take their memories as well as Edison Carter's so the fool will leave me alone."

He turned back to the Doctor.

"So, surrender and accept your fate. Join your fellow Time Lord and serve me."

"Yeah, watch how fast I run over there and do that," the Doctor said.

He stood rooted to the spot while he gazed at the Cyber Messiah.

"Oh dear, I guess my legs are frozen. Sorry, I guess I can't go over there and lay on your bed while you drain my mind. What a pity. Now…for my counteroffer…you surrender yourself and give the watch to me and allow all that you have brainwashed to leave here in peace and I will take you to a prison planet that is fairly comfortable where you can live out the rest of your days without having to toil in a work gang or be tortured. This is my final offer, Messiah, so I suggest you take it."

The Cyber Messiah laughed.

"I am not a fool, Destroyer."

"Neither am I, Messiah."

"But you are outnumbered. I have brainwashed disciples ready and willing to obey my command and they will overwhelm you in minutes. Observe."

He pulled a communicator out of his pouch and turned it on.

"My disciples, I am under attack! Come to my quarters and apprehend the Doctor, I command you!"

He turned it off and put it back in his pouch.

"There is only one way out of this room, Doctor. There is no escape for you now."

The Doctor folded his arms over his chest and tapped his foot while he whistled.

"What is this? I summoned my disciples?" the Cyber Messiah said, confused.

"Yoo-hooooooooooooooo!" the Doctor yelled. "Disciples! Here boys! Come here and be good doggies and fetch for master."

He smirked when there was no answer.

"Oh dear, seems our plans have gone awry, then?" he said.

"What's going on here?"

"Oh, well, that's a part of my secret weapon. See, I have a friend that disabled everything including your damper and mind blocks. The only reason why you couldn't feel me or my family is because we are manually blocking ya. My friend also disabled your intercom, so sorry, army's not coming!"

"HELP ME! MY DISCIPLES, COME…"

He grunted when the Doctor suddenly shoved him hard and knocked him back into the bed.

"No, that won't work either!" he snarled.

The Cyber Messiah leapt up and began throwing punches. The Doctor ducked and weaved.

"Come on, Cybey, hit me! Maybe if you took the handkerchief off your face it'd improve your vision a bit!"

He ducked again.

"Now I see why you need a bunch of brainwashed toadies to help you fight, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Come on! Fight! I need a challenge here!"

The Doctor grinned when he kicked him directly in the chest sending him flying backwards.

"See, now that's how ya fight!"

He lunged at him but the Cyber Messiah rolled out of the way. He tried to get to his feet but the Doctor rammed his body up against him, knocking him into the wall. He wrapped one hand around his throat while he jerked his pouch off his belt.

"I'll take that, thanks!" he said.

The Cyber Messiah pushed back and the Doctor staggered backwards. He grunted when his fist connected with the Doctor's face and the pouch sailed from his hand over towards the door. He grunted when he hit him again and he fell to the floor.

"Mock me, will you?" the Cyber Messiah said. "I will make you suffer before I drain you. I will find your family and torture them all in front of your eyes and have them watch you be tortured in return. You will pay for your insolence."

The Doctor leapt to his feet. He had split his lip with the last punch and blood was trickling down his chin. Gritting his teeth, he lunged back at the Cyber Messiah and the two of them ducked and weaved and tried to exchange punches and kicks. They were so busy fighting they didn't notice a hand pulling the pouch all the way out the door.

Thomas picked up the pouch and held it in his hand. After the Doctor left he had snuck up to the side of the door and listened, waiting for the moment to help his friend. He had heard the Cyber Messiah talk about him being the lost one and how his Time Lord mind was hidden in the watch. He knew now he had to get the watch back. He reached his hand into the pouch searching for a possible weapon he could use on the Cyber Messiah but to his delight he pulled out the watch instead. He stared at it for a moment listening to his voice urging him to open it. Then he clicked it open and his eyes widened while the golden light illuminated his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and the Cyber Messiah were still fighting when suddenly both of them felt a new consciousness enter their minds. The Doctor jerked his head towards the door and noticed the pouch was gone.

"Oh no, no, no," he said, dreading what was going to happen next. "No, don't tell me I have to fight Nelak now too."

He stared at the door when Thomas came through it. Thomas stopped and stared at them both. The Cyber Messiah noticed the Doctor's wide eyes and turned to see him.

"Ah, my disciple, you are here! Help me fight The Destroyer."

"I don't think so, you fiend."

The Doctor noticed he now had an English accent.

"Nelak?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, Doctor. Thomas is dead now."

"You knew about the watch?" the Cyber Messiah said.

Nelak snorted.

"Course I did, you loud windbag. I was outside the door listening but I could hear you all the way down the corridor. It was a little hard not to hear you, you pompous twit. Now, why don't you do what the Doctor said and surrender your worthless carcass before I join your little battle?"

The Doctor smiled when he realized that Nelak was on his side.

"That's too bad," the Doctor said. "Nelak turned on ya. Good help is so hard to find nowadays, isn't it?"

"I will see you both enslaved," the Cyber Messiah said. "And once I'm through with you, I will enslave the others."

"Touch Awinita again and you are dead," Nelak growled.

The Cyber Messiah turned to him.

"Ah, do you love her, Time Lord? Is she your mate now? She'll be the first to suffer then."

Nelak sighed.

"You just don't know when to keep your big mouth shut, do you?" he said to him.

"I will shut your mouth, Time Lord, permanently!"

The Cyber Messiah moved towards him. The Doctor took advantage of it and rushed him. He kicked him hard in the back while Nelak moved to the side. When he staggered towards him, Nelak moved around him, grabbed him by the back of the robe and slammed him hard into the concrete wall. They felt his mind wink out and he slumped to the floor unconscious.

"Nice going, Nelak," he said.

"Thanks, Doctor."

The Doctor moved cautiously towards him.

"So, no seething hatred of me?" he said.

Nelak gave him a confused look.

"Why would I hate you?"

"Dex told me he told you and his other five friends all about me."

"Oh, well, I listened to him because I was a friend but I didn't know you personally until now so I never paid much attention to it. Besides, Nita told me a lot of stories about you this past month and I learned that Dex was very wrong."

"Good. Although I thought your name was Mark Patterson."

"It was but he forced me to change it when I came in here. He did that to everyone to hide their identities. I refused at first and got whipped for it so I finally gave up and used Thomas."

The Doctor nodded. He thought a moment.

"What he said though…do you really love Awinita?"

"Yes. I don't know if she loves me but I have fallen in love with her. I mean, how could I not. We just spent a month together and I had to care for her and listen to her cry and comfort her. I helped clean and dress her wounds and she talked to me about her being human and her life traveling with you. She's a wonderful woman."

"Yes, she is and believe me, I'm glad it was you who ended up being the Time Lord. Although…you look a tad young. My son said 18 years have passed and he's in his mid forties now."

"I am, actually. But they have very good non-invasive face lifts that can take years off. I got a couple before I was snatched. I guess unconsciously I was still remembering when I was young and didn't have to grow old and I wanted to keep that illusion."

"And the purple hair?"

"He made me do that. It was supposed to disguise me and also keep from attracting too much attention since I was impersonating a blank and most people ignore and look down on them. But actually I've kinda grown fond of it, to be honest. It's different."

The Doctor grinned.

"Well, when you winked at Awinita, she told us she doesn't fancy punkers," he said.

"Oh. Maybe I better get this dyed back then," he said.

"Nah, I doubt it matters now. I'm betting this past month, she's gotten used to the purple hair too. Just don't convince my brother to do it. The daft little nutter already got a tattoo because his wife suggested he do it. I'd hate to walk in one day and see him wearing every color of the rainbow in his hair. He's already peculiar enough without that."

"So I guess this is goodbye then? I mean, once we get him sorted out."

"It doesn't have to be. I came here looking for you, we all did."

"You did?"

"Yes, I found Dex first and that's when I learned about you and your friends. I don't want you living the rest of your lives as humans if you don't want to. You're Time Lords and Ladies and you deserve to be that. Now if you wanna go back to being Thomas or Mark or whoever you want to be, I can use my chameleon arch and…"

"No, no I don't want to. I'd rather be Nelak. I've had quite enough of human life."

"Well then come with us. Come on the TARDIS and help us find the rest of your friends. I have more than enough room and we'd all love to have ya onboard."

"How many have you found?"

"Besides, Dex, just you."

"Is it true though? Is Gallifrey gone?"

"Yes, it's true."

He put a hand on Nelak's shoulder.

"Did anyone else besides us survive?"

"I don't know. Once upon a time, I thought it was just me but then all these Time Lords kept popping up and then my family got turned into Time Lords and Ladies after being human. Then I found Dex and now there's you and your friends. I'm not ruling out more now. Dex does has a human family that's living in London and he's gonna go back to them eventually but you are welcome to travel with us…unless you have family here?"

"No, I'm…well, I programmed in a back-story that said I was an orphan but I'm single and I have no real friends."

"Well, now you do. You have us. And we're your own kind too so you won't be lonely. No matter where you choose to go, if you want to stay or resettle somewhere, you'll have 10 other minds inside your own. Actually…you'll have 11 but I'd ignore that one because her name is the Rani and she's completely insane. You wouldn't wanna pal around with her, trust me. And if you do want to leave, we have two spare TARDISes. One is the one you lot nicked and the other is a spare that used to belong to this bloke named the Valeyard. If you wanna use one…"

"If you don't mind, for the moment, I would like to travel with you just to sort myself out. I've had 18 years of living as a human and I gotta get adjusted to living as a Time Lord again."

"That's fine. Take as long as you need. We have plenty of room."

"Besides I also want to find my friends."

The Doctor smiled.

"Thank you for offering to help. And…would I be wrong in thinking you're also hoping to further fan the flames of love with Awinita?"

He blushed.

"I would like to…if that's okay."

"It's fine with me. Awinita's an adult; she has the right to love whomever she wants. The only time I'd object is if you started hurting her in some way, then I would step in since she's my sister and I love her."

"I wouldn't do that. She's been hurt enough this past month."

"Then go for it. At least she wants to be friends with you. If it doesn't pan out, you have that."

He smiled and nodded. The Doctor looked down at the Cyber Messiah.

"Well, I guess we'll have to start sorting this mess out. Get him locked up so we can take him somewhere, get the cult members out, dismantle that thing…although we can have Edison see if he can restore the memories of the cult members before that happens. And…"

He leaned down, untied the cloth and pulled back the hood when Nelak leaned him up. The Cyber Messiah had a bald white head with golden swirls all over it and a lizard like face.

"A Spektra," the Doctor said, "no wonder."

"What's that? I've never heard of them."

"They're a highly intelligent species. Live on Nalak, one of the planets that got wiped out in the Time War. They're highly empathic beings, advanced psychic abilities which accounts for him seeing through my disguise and being able to feel and communicate with us telepathically. Normally his kind is peaceful but apparently the Time War drove him insane, probably witnessing the destruction of his planet sent him over the edge. I tried to save it but I couldn't. The Daleks overwhelmed us and I was forced to retreat. That would account for his hatred of me and also calling me the Dalek epithet, Ka Faraq Gatri, probably heard it from the Daleks at some point and learned what it meant later on. We'll have to keep him heavily sedated in case he tries something. But once we get him back to the TARDIS, she can imprison him in the holding cell and block all his telepathy, just in case. I expect he also used his psychic abilities to brainwash the others."

He looked towards the door.

"Good job he didn't summon anyone," he said.

"No one comes down this way unless he calls for them," Nelak said. "I was the only one who was allowed unrestricted access."

"Well, doesn't that make you feel special, eh?"

Nelak rolled his eyes and grinned.

"Well," the Doctor said. "Let's take advantage of that. Let's stow the Cyber Messiah in a room for now, lock it and go tell the others we're safe."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

The Doctor and Nelak pulled the Cyber Messiah into a room. Nelak ran and got some sedatives from the medicine cabinet in the lab while he watched him. While he did it the Doctor had a thought.

"As much as I hate to infringe on the rights of others, you are a threat to others so I'm going to permanently block your telepathic abilities," he said to him.

He knelt down beside him, entered his mind and began creating barriers in his mind. He wove a complex web of blocks that would prevent him from feeling other minds, communicating with them and possibly controlling them. Nelak came back while he was doing it and remained quiet until he finished.

"What'd you do?"

"Permanently blocked his telepathic abilities so he can't use them," the Doctor said. "I hated to do it but he misused them and in my mind, he lost the right to have them. And I don't know how powerful he is but I'm not risking him hooking into our minds. Got the sedative?"

"Yes."

"Give him a substantial dose. Not enough to kill him but enough to keep him under for awhile. Give him about twenty CC's."

He nodded and prepared the syringe. The Doctor pulled up his sleeve and injected him. Once it was done, he disposed of the syringe and Nelak pocketed the rest of the sedative. The Doctor called out to his family and explained what had happened.

_We wondered who that was,_ Donna though when he told them about Nelak. _We figured it was him but we weren't sure._

_Yes, he is…was Thomas._

_I thought he was called Mark,_ Alan thought.

_I am but the Cyber Messiah made me change it to hide my identity. He made all the cult members do it and beat us if we didn't accept it. _Nelak thought to them.

_Well, no wonder we never suspected him, _Alan thought.

_Are you with Awinita, Brother? _The Doctor thought.

_Yes, she's fine. I healed her back and she's resting, _he thought.

_Good, _the Doctor thought.

_Yes, Bro, I'm resting like a good little girl, _Awinita thought.

The Doctor smiled.

_Well, you stay in bed. We don't want to tickle you and make you behave,_ he thought.

_Ha, ha. And…Nelak, I guess it is now, are you alright?_

_I'm fine, Nita._

_Geez, this is odd being able to talk with you like this._

_Well, it's odd waking up after 18 years and finding out I'm a Time Lord again._

_Are you coming with us?_

_Yes. There's nothing for me here. _

The Doctor chuckled when he sensed his family's happiness at that.

_Well, Nelak and I just got finished drugging the Cyber Messiah. Tell Edison to let us get the Cyber Messiah on board the TARDIS before he rings the police since he's an alien._

_He's here with us, _Alan thought_. I'll tell him._

_Thank you, Brother. We're going now before one of the cult members does cotton on to what happened here._

He cut off communication and nodded to Nelak. Both of them walked out the door, shut it and headed towards the exit. On the way, Nelak suddenly remembered the pouch in his pocket. He pulled it out and handed it to him.

"Here ya go, you might wanna check for anything that might be valuable," he said to the Doctor.

He reached inside and grinned when he pulled out Awinita's sonic screwdriver.

"I believe this is valuable to Awinita and she'll want it back," he said.

"What is it?"

He explained the concept of the sonic screwdriver to him.

"So will that open any lock?" Nelak said.

"Yup, except a deadlock sealed one."

"Could you follow me then?"

The Doctor nodded. He led him to the kitchen and noticed all the cabinets and the fridge had padlocks on them.

"Can you open those?" he said, pointing to the lock on the fridge.

"Yup, why?"

"Unlock it? I wanna break the rules and raid the fridge when I'm not supposed to. One last rebellious act before I go."

The Doctor chuckled. Nelak watched while he used the screwdriver on the padlock. It fell open and the Doctor took it off and opened the fridge. Nelak looked in, grabbed a large hunk of cheddar cheese and closed the door.

"There, screw the rules here now," he said as the Doctor laughed.

He tore a piece off and handed it to the Doctor.

"Ah, thank you, I am feeling a bit peckish," he said.

He popped the piece in his mouth and made a face as they headed toward the door.

"Bit dry," he said to Nelak. "How long have they had this in there?"

"Not long, but who knows where they got it from. But you're right, it is a bit dry and…"

They came out the door and ran into the older cult member who had yelled at him earlier. He saw the piece of cheese in his hand while they stared calmly at him.

"How did you get that out of the refrigerator?" he said to them.

Nelak grinned.

"My friend here has a very special way to open locks," he said.

"Put it back!"

"No, we're hungry," the Doctor said.

The man glared at him.

"Who are you? I've never seen you before!"

"Ah, well, I'm a part time brainwashed cult member. I only come in on the weekends."

He glared at Nelak who was giggling.

"The Lord will be furious when he hears you've been breaking the rules."

"Oh dear, how distressing," Nelak said, calmly. "I'm done for, now."

"You dare to break the rules of our Lord?"

Nelak glanced at the Doctor and put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Word of advice, little human. Quit listening to people who claim to be God or something similar and think for yourself, alright? I have no idea why you're in here but I have a feeling it's not for the dry cheese. Get out and go live a life without having to obey others."

"That's it! The Lord will hear of this! I will summon the others and…"

He was cut off when the Doctor pinched the nerve in his neck and he slumped to the ground unconscious.

"So that's why Nita knows how to do that," Nelak said.

"Why? Did she do that to you?"

"Yes. She used it on me the day she tried to escape. Pinched my neck and put me in her room."

"Hmmm, I was teaching Rain that maneuver but she was in the room with us. She was reading but I guess she was listening as well. Nice to know she picked up something new while she was reading that sappy romance novel of hers. Well, let's get this idiot in here and close the door and get ourselves outside so we can join the others."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh God, this tastes so good," Nelak said as he and the others sat in Edison's apartment eating Chinese food. "Much better than the slop we were given."

He was sitting with the women and Theora who had stopped by. The men had gone back to the shelter to retrieve the Cyber Messiah so he could be imprisoned on the TARDIS. Awinita was still in the TARDIS resting but they had taken some food to her and she was occasionally speaking to them telepathically.

"Nice to know you got away from that place," Rose said.

"Yes, good riddance to bad rubbish," he replied. "Good riddance to being human too. I'd much rather be a Time Lord."

He grinned.

"Especially since I'm gonna be around a bunch of good looking Time Ladies now," he said, winking.

"Well, just so ya know, Rain and I are spoken for," Rose said.

"Nah, actually I'm only interested in one of you at the moment and she's back there in the TARDIS."

"Ooo, Awinita's got a boyfriend," Mingxia said.

"Well, I'm a Time Lord and she's a Time Lady, why not?" he said.

"Well, Dex does have a human wife and family," Rain said.

"And that's perfectly okay. I'm glad he has someone after everything that's happened. I love the guy but I wasn't surprised he ended up in an institution because he had severe issues. It's just kinda funny that after all the talk about hating humans he ends up married to one and having human kids. I just hope he's prepared for the day they die. I don't think I could stomach that. Not that we won't die one day but at least we theoretically have centuries to live whereas they only have decades."

He looked at Theora.

"No offense, Theora. Like I said, I got nothing against humans especially since I was one for 18 years, but it would be rough married to one."

"I understand. But how long do you lot live?"

They looked at each other.

"Um," Nelak said. "It depends on what you do with your life, I guess. Some Time Lords did nothing strenuous and lived for thousands of years. The Doctor on the other hand is on his tenth life and he's just past 1200, right?"

They nodded.

"But the Doctor's kinda a unique person. He fights monsters and evildoers so there's more risk of him getting killed. I'm 947 and I'm only on my third life now."

Theora's eyes boggled.

"You're…947?" she said as they laughed.

"Yup, I look good, dontcha think?" he said, winking. "I'm older than Dex but I was with him at the academy and these other five were with us too. We went everywhere in a group and we escaped as a group."

He looked around at the others.

"None of you had that experience, right? You were all human once?"

They nodded.

"Aw, too bad. The academy was interesting. You would have liked it. Gallifrey was beautiful. It's a shame you've never seen your own adopted home world. It's sad that it was destroyed but if the Daleks were overrunning it I suppose it would be better to have it gone than be another Skaro. Damn those Daleks. Good riddance to them too."

Theora listened quietly. She had no clue what Daleks were but she preferred to just listen to them rather than ask questions.

"So, they really are gone now?" Nelak asked.

"We think so," Rose said. "Donna and I were there the day Alan destroyed them and as far as we know, they're all dead. Davros too."

"Good. The universe is safer without them around," Nelak said. "If I'm gonna be going with you looking for my friends, I'd rather not risk running into them at some point. Incidentally, you guys know where the rest are? I know the location of one since I was the second one dropped off but where did Dex take the others?"

"Not sure, the Doctor's got the list, I think. They've got all the locations and the names they're living under," Donna said.

"And…I was at the top of the list?" Nelak said.

"I think so, yeah," Rain said.

"Hmm, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing Dex named me first," he said while they giggled. "It'll be nice to find the others. It was nice seeing Dex again although he looks older now. But still, he was my best mate and I'm glad he's still alive. And I look forward to getting to know all of you since you're brand new to our race."

"Well, we look forward to getting to know you better," Mingxia said.

"I wish I could say the same," Theora said. "But unfortunately I have a life here. But it was wonderful meeting all of you. Edison and I will never forget any of you."

"Same here," Rain said. "It'll be sad to go and leave you guys behind but we wish you luck."

"Yeah and we wish Max luck too," Jenny said.

"You better wish Edison luck. He'll need it in order to deal with him and keep his sanity," Theora said.

"Trust me, we have the same problem with my husband," Rose said. "He's very wacky but fun to be with."

"And poor Nelak still has to find that out," Donna said while they laughed.

"Is he really that bad?"

The women all grinned.

"Nah, he's not a bad guy. He's just got a wild streak runnin' through him and an odd sense of humor but ya get used to em, we all did. And eventually you'll be able to tell the difference between him and the Doctor," Rose said. "But he's a sweetie. He's loving and kind and fun to be with. I wouldn't have married him otherwise."

They looked over when the door opened and the men came in carrying the Cyber Messiah.

"Ah, Chinese food," Alan said, sniffing. "Let's hurry up and dump this lump in the cells so we can get some."

"Excuse us, ladies," Jack said.

They all moved aside while the five men carried him into the TARDIS.

"I don't see the dogs around," the Doctor said while they went inside. "They must be with Awinita. This way, gentlemen."

Nelak watched them and got up.

"I'm gonna check on Nita, I'll be right back," he said to them.

They nodded and he stepped inside the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey," Nelak said, poking his head around Awinita's door.

She was sitting up in her bed with her plate in her lap and a bowl of egg drop soup and glass of milk on her bedside table.

"Come to take me to the restroom?" she teased.

"Not unless you want me to. I could feed you too."

"No thanks, I can see fine now."

"Good," he said, coming inside.

He sat at the edge of her bed.

"Enjoying your food?"

"Immensely. Much better than the crap in the shelter."

"I wholeheartedly agree."

She chuckled.

"So now that you're a noble and dignified Time Lord again, ya gonna lose the hair?" Awinita asked.

"I don't know. I kinda like the look now. I'm used to it. Why? You don't like it?"

"Well, I'm used to it now and it would be strange to see you change back. What is your natural color anyway?"

"Brown."

"Nah, we got too many brown haired men on the TARDIS already, keep the purple."

"If you say so, Nita," he said, smiling.

He sighed.

"Listen, I have something to tell you but I don't want you to get creeped out, alright?"

"Um…alright."

"Well, it's just that…in this past month, I've…grown to love you. I mean you're a wonderful, warm, friendly, funny person. Not to mention I had a few personal moments with you and took care of you for a month. But…I do love you, Awinita and I would love it if we became a couple. But if you don't want to do that, I'd love to be best mates and all because you're just a sweet girl. And I'm so glad you're free and safe and back with your family. And you know, I am traveling with you lot for the moment so I can find my friends but…I would like to also take the time to get to know you better. After all, we're both Gallifreyan now and there aren't too many other prospects around."

"Gee, thanks," she said as he laughed.

"But I just wanted to know because if you don't want to be a couple, I'll just be your friend."

Awinita smiled.

"I would love to be with you, Nelak."

He beamed.

"You would?"

"Yeah, I mean you're a sweet guy and you're handsome…even with the Day-Glo doo. I actually did get a bit of a crush on you but of course I was in the middle of being tortured and it does remind me of the whole Stockholm Syndrome falling in love with your captor thing. But I would love to be your girlfriend, Nelak."

Nelak grinned. He got up, leaned forward and gave her a long and passionate kiss on the lips. As they were kissing the door opened and the Doctor and Alan walked in. They stopped short and stared at them with shock. The shock quickly became amusement and they glanced at each other and fought to keep from laughing. They waited till Nelak was done before the Doctor cleared his throat. They laughed when he spun around and turned as red as a beet.

"Um, Te'lesu," Alan said, "we were coming in here to make sure you were okay but from the looks of it, you are a-okay!"

"I guess the whole wanting to be a couple thing worked out for you, then?" the Doctor said to Nelak.

"Um…yeah, it did," Nelak said, blushing even more.

"Well, actually we were walking over here and suddenly we felt this extreme happiness from the both of ya and we thought, gee what could be causing that and lo and behold, we open the door and a TARDIS snogfest is going on," Alan said.

Awinita giggled when Nelak put his head in his hands and groaned.

"Don't be embarrassed. I'm happy for you both," the Doctor said. "'Bout time someone else found a significant other besides the two of us. You wanna kiss her; by all means don't let us stop ya!"

"Yeah, just go ahead and hoover my sister's mouth all ya want, we won't stop ya, honestly," the Doctor said.

The Doctor laughed when Awinita threw her pillow at Alan.

"Do you mind if I have a moment alone with your girlfriend though?" the Doctor asked.

Nelak nodded. The Doctor picked up the pillow and waited till he walked out the door before he closed it and brought it to her. She leaned up and he fluffed it and put it behind her.

"So," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "new man in your life, eh?"

"Yeah, we're gonna give it a try."

"Do you love him?"

She nodded.

"Good, because I mean what I said about it being time the others found someone to love. Except I'm sure Jack will throw a fit when he learns because if you marry him, there's another family member I've found."

"Well, I think marriage will be a long time off," Awinita said.

"Don't be too sure, Rain and I got married really quickly, you know."

"Yes, well, I'm not as fast as you are when it comes to things like that. Besides, I wanna make sure he's the right guy for me. As I was telling him, this whole thing is kinda like the Stockholm Syndrome thing."

He laughed.

"Yeah, but then again, he wasn't really your captor. The Cyber Messiah was. He was just an unwilling participant but I understand your reference."

He rubbed her leg.

"Are you doing alright, Te'lesu?" he asked with concern.

"I'm fine. You healed my back and everything."

"I wasn't talking about physical damage."

She nodded.

"I'm fine, Bro, really."

"Well, this is the first time you've really suffered like that and I wanna make sure you are truly okay, both physically and mentally. Because if you do need some help, I can take you to a resort that has therapy sessions for a short holiday. I just know that Rose kept a lot in and she had horrific nightmares and wouldn't let me help her like that and I don't want to see you end up the same way."

"I'm fine, Doctor. If I'd done this a couple of months ago I probably would have been a basket case but I've grown so much since then and I can handle it."

He smiled and nodded.

"But I want you to be honest with me. If you do need help at some point come and tell me and I will take you to get it," he said. "I don't want you living the rest of your lives with all this trauma."

"I will tell you if that happens, Bro."

"Good."

"What about you, though? Are you alright? Truthfully."

"I'm better than I was a month ago. Rain helped me out a lot as well as the others. There is something to be said for a good support system. But what I felt and heard disturbed me greatly, far more than if you had just been some stranger. You know, Te'lesu, that's partly the reason why I used to push people away. I was scared that if I got too close to people then things like this would happen and it would devastate me like it did. Rose was the first one that I really did let in and there were many times when I had to go through what I went through with you, being powerless while she got tortured. I s'pose that's part of the reason why I took her back over the void when she came back because at the time I thought I couldn't deal with it anymore. But at the time I did that, I didn't have all these people around me like I do now. They helped me deal with it so it wasn't as devastating as it would have been if it'd been just me and you. So, I will be alright, Te'lesu, I promise that. And…I'm very, very glad Nelak wants to be with you because now you have someone to love you and give you support like Rain does for me and that'll help you tremendously as well."

He took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"But I'm here if you need me so don't hesitate to come running."

"Same here, Bro."

He smiled and nodded.

"Now I s'pose I better let you eat. Your food's getting cold and I'm sure Casanova out there wants to explore your mouth a bit more."

He giggled when Awinita blushed. Standing up, he leaned over and sent love into her mind while he kissed her forehead. He gave her hand a squeeze and waved while he walked out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once the cult members were taken out of the shelter and taken to an institution for examination, both Edison and the Doctor took a look at the chameleon arch machine. To their relief, the Doctor found a way to reverse the process and restore the memories to the victims. Edison talked to a couple of the police officers after the Doctor finished fixing the machine and had them take the victims back to the shelter to have their memories restored. Edison relayed the instructions the Doctor had given him about how to reverse the process to the cops and his friends in the police force called him back to tell him they were successful and the cult members were restored and sent to the institution for rest and evaluation. After they were finished, the men snuck back into the shelter and personally dismantled the machine and took the major components so it wouldn't be used on anyone else.

It had taken a couple of days to finish all this and in that time Awinita felt well enough to get up and rejoin the others. By that time they knew that she and Nelak was a couple and they smiled when they saw the two of them holding hands while they walked around the TARDIS or sitting together in the living room. The Doctor also had used the rejuvenator on him and Awinita was thrilled to see he now had a smooth back again.

They hated to do it but the time came for them to leave their friends and start the next search. They stood with Edison and Theora in his living room hugging them and telling them goodbye. Max, who was on the computer screen, feigned distress and loudly bawled while they laughed and said goodbye to him too.

"You know, you guys need to come back sometime," Edison said while Theora nodded. "I mean, at least let us know how the search goes."

"Or just pop by for a visit."

"We'll do that," the Doctor said. "We'll definitely tell you what happens with the search but in the meantime you take care of yourselves."

"You too, buddy," Edison said. "Thanks for all your help on the cyber cult. We probably wouldn't have gotten rid of them without your help."

"And we'll tell Bryce you said bye as well," Theora said. "And Reg and Dominique."

They gave them one more round of hugs and the two of them stepped back and watched with their arms around each other while all of them walked into the TARDIS. They smiled when the TARDIS wheezed and dematerialized in front of them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were in the vortex, all of them sat in the living room and discussed what they wanted to do next in order to find the other missing Time Lords and Ladies.

"You know, Doc," Jack said. "Just a thought, but there's a whole bunch of us and two other TARDISes besides this one. Why don't we split up into three groups and each group can take a name and go look for them, that way we can get the search over quicker."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," the Doctor said. "We can keep in contact with each other periodically and relay the information to one another about what we find. We'll have to sort out the teams and choose the names we want to find. But hopefully, next time, the search will go a lot more smoothly."

"Somehow, I seriously doubt it," Donna said while everyone nodded in agreement.

"Are you saying everything that can go wrong does when I'm around?"

They all nodded and giggled when he gave them an incensed look.

"I'm not a jinx," he said.

"We never said you were, dear," Rain said. "We're saying trouble follows you around and makes our life hell."

"Well, gee, you feel that way I'll drop you off…with your dad!"

Rain shrugged while they laughed.

"Yeah right, Dad, you wouldn't last two minutes without Mum in the TARDIS," Jenny said.

"Could too," the Doctor said.

Rain winked at the others.

"Okay, take me back then. I wanna go home this instant!"

"So anyway, moving right along…" the Doctor said.

"Hey!" Rain said, snapping her fingers while the others laughed. "I wanna go home, you hear me?"

"I think we should come up with a definite strategy in order to tackle…"

"Yooooooooooo-hoooooooo, hubby dear, wanna go home! Let me out!"

The Doctor leaned over and patted her on the head.

"Anyway, definite strategy in order to complete our task and find the others."

"I don't wanna do it. I wanna go home!" Rain said while the others laughed.

They laughed harder when they saw the Doctor was fighting to keep a straight face.

"So we'll have to decide who splits up with whom and…"

"WANNA GO HOOOOOOOME!" Rain screamed at him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the Doctor screamed back while everyone roared with laughter. "I admit it; I can't live without ya and you're not leaving my side so sit back down and be pleasant!"

"That's what I thought," Rain muttered while she sat back down.

The Doctor grinned, gave her a pinch on the cheek and they went back to strategizing their next move.

THE END.


End file.
